


Don't Look

by GrimReader



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Canon-Typical Violence, Confident Midoriya Izuku, Crack Treated Seriously, Dekubowl, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I tried to make bakudeku work even with their canon history, Immortal Midoriya Izuku, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Izuku is a Dragon Warrior, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pray for me, Protective Bakugou Katsuki, Self-Hatred, Temporary Character Death, Though a bit lowkey, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-05-05 17:22:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 70,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14623494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimReader/pseuds/GrimReader
Summary: No one spots the cracks. No one notices how carefully pieced together he is. Under his bright smile and determined gaze no one sees, no one hears, NO ONE feels how broken he is.At least, that’s what he thought.Izuku is not human. He is a fraud. Not deserving of any love. Nothing but a vile monster.At least, that’s what he believed.He’s made of scales not glass. He’s always in control. He is invincible.That is, until he became Midoriya Izuku.[Former title: H(iS)tory]





	1. Your Memory Will Carry On

**Author's Note:**

> It took a lot of courage, procrastinating and other things to get me to post this. The future me can handle the embarrassment and despair that this action will cause. This is a “Crack Treated Seriously” fic, enjoy this abomination. *pretentious bowing motion*
> 
> Btw I want to say “Who is English?” aka “There will be mistakes.” I’m sorry in advance and thank you for reading. *sincere bowing motion with hand in chest*
> 
> Please point out any and all errors thank you

_All men are not created equal. This was the reality I learned about society at the age of four years old._

_  
_

“If you wanna be a hero that badly, there’s a quick way to do it. Believe that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof!”

  


\--

  


Midoriya Izuku walked home that day feeling the worst he’d been since he was four years old, when he was the only one who never manifested a quirk. Even though doesn’t have the extra toe joint, all the tests show that he didn’t have a quirk.

  


Of course, the possibility of being a late bloomer is there. It may also be that his quirk is very subtle or has very specific conditions to activate. It was said that the only option is to wait because the current technology is just not advanced enough to detect such quirks. However, kids would never care about that fact and everyone came to label him as quirkless. His childhood friend became his bully from then on.

  


And now 10 years later, he just told Izuku to kill himself. He’s an idiot. If Izuku really did kill himself then wouldn’t Kacchan be responsible for instigating it? He’s at the top of the class but why did he act like such a moron? Or maybe because Izuku was quirkless, worthless and useless he wasn’t even considered a human being and Kacchan wouldn’t get in trouble for treating a quirkless nobody for the worthless trash that he was. The law wasn’t for him. This world wasn’t for him.

  


“I don’t know how to do a swan dive though.” A chuckle left his lips. “I can just step off the roof normally. Even someone as useless as me can’t mess that up.”

  


Izuku wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going. When he entered the tunnel, Izuku shrugged and decided to head home and write a letter to his mom and also to Kacchan. Though Kacchan’s letter can just have a simple ‘I hate you’ on a piece of paper. What if he wrote it on one of the pages of his analysis notebook no. 13 that Kacchan just kind of exploded today?

  


Deep down he notes to himself to add an ‘I don’t blame you though’ to Kacchan’s letter. Damn his morals.

  


Just then, Izuku noticed a giant shadow behind him and turned around to see a mud-like monster and Izuku heard him say.

  


“Invisibility cloak size M”

  


Not a moment later the slime monster envelops his body, lifts him off the ground and starts suffocating him.

_A villain?!_

  


“Don’t struggle kid. This will only hurt for 45 seconds.”

  


Izuku’s fight or flight instinct kicks in and he then starts thrashing within the hold of the villain.

_  
_

_I don’t want to die! I don’t want to –_

  


Die? Izuku’s gonna die? He doesn’t need to kill himself anymore? If Izuku kills himself his mother would blame herself and Kacchan’s future may be compromised. But... but if a villain kills Izuku, sure his mom would he hurt very much but that’s better than the pain she’d feel thinking that her own son took his life and that she could’ve done something to prevent it.

  


This is perfect. In a villain attack people would just say that he died because he was unlucky, he was helpless and he was weak, all because he is quirkless.

  


He feels his lungs constrict and every fibre of his being scream for Izuku to do something. Warning bells inside his head are telling him that ‘this is not a drill you are gonna die you idiot’. He felt his body heat gradually decrease. But he just let it happen. He let it go. The cold never bothered him anyway.  
Then he sees something... a memory of a time and place he doesn’t remember but he’s certain that it's his.  


.

  
.

  
.  


  


“Fuck!” Two figures were running through the sewers, one looked like he was in his thirties the other looked like he was about sixteen years old.

  


“Fuck fuck fuck!” The man continued cursing. He looked panicked like he was being pursued by death itself. The edges of his cape were covered with sewer wastes but the man couldn’t care less.

  


“Calm down Clockwork your behaviour isn’t helping us right now.” The boy in casual clothing said in a levelled voice. Even though he was running with the same speed as the man with him the boy didn’t look tired or shaken in the least. His cold and calculating expression didn’t suit his baby face at all.

  


“But Izuku-sama, All-for-One destroyed the lab and killed all of our researchers! He violated the agreement between the two of you!” The two of them were still running.

  


“I know. We turn left here hurry.” The boy whose name was said to be Izuku memorized the sewers many years ago. He knows this whole city like the back of his hand.

  


“He also stole two of your quirks! And one of them was stolen because you protected me!” Izuku frowned at this. He remembered when he was a hundred and sixty years old when he went to the base of All-for-One years after he confirmed that One-for-All wasn’t capable of absorbing his four quirks and after he trained and passed One-for-All to the fourth successor.

  


“He’s smart” they turned right. “When I went to him before, my quirks were too strong for him to take with or without One-for-All.” They were now below a factory so a left here.

  


“How did he know that today was going to be your weakest?” Another left here. Izuku just looked ahead.

  


“He knew that I was always looking for a way to kill myself. And like I said he’s smart, I guess we’ve both come to the same conclusion.” They saw a ladder leading to a manhole on the dead end just ahead.

  


“That Izuku-sama would use a time quirk like mine that directly affects quirks.”

  


The Time Hero: Clockwork’s quirk is called Jack-in-a-Clock. He ages a quirk randomly making it years older thus strengthening it or weakening it by turning back the time on a quirk to the first day the quirk manifested. The effect of the quirk lasts for five minutes and there is a 10 minute interval between uses. There is a very rare chance of erasing a quirk temporarily for 3 minutes and that’s the reason their experiment had been running for almost twenty years.

  


If they were able to erase his Immortality quirk then his suffering would have been over but now...

  


Izuku for the first time in a long while felt frustrated. He had been so close! Two hundred forty-nine years is a very long time and just when he had started to have hope, this happens.

  


If this was Izuku of about ninety years ago, he would have presented himself to All-for-One and begged him to take his immortality. But now, although Izuku still wants to die, he’d rather stay alive for another hundred years than let it fall into All-for-One’s hands.

  


Izuku was aware that there was a point in his long life that he went insane and was prepared to do anything and everything just to return to heaven but really, what was he thinking going to that psychopathic son of a bitch?

  


The two of them climbed up the manhole and came out in a dark alleyway.“

  


Where are we going now Izuku-sama?” Izuku’s back was facing Clockwork so he doesn’t see the changes on the boy’s face.

  


The once emerald orbs are now a pair of beautiful golden dragon eyes. Red facial markings that looked like fangs with the one on the edge a bit longer than the other started from his cheek bone and covered some of his freckles.

  


“Did that All-for-One brat give you an amplification quirk or another Time-related quirk?” Izuku turned around and faced Clockwork with a cold expression.

  


Shock covered clockwork’s face when he saw the changes in Izuku’s face. But when he processed the accusation of the boy his face visibly paled.

  


“Wha-what are you talking about Izuku-sama?” Clockwork took a step back. Izuku’s beautiful dragon eyes had taken on a cold glint as the vertical slits on the boy’s eyes dilated to take in the terrified visage of the Pro Hero who was once a kid scavenging the dumpster for scraps before Izuku gave him food, shelter and education.

  


“I’m talking about the effects of your quirk. I feel like I’m slowly getting smaller or younger which normally, should be impossible with my immortality quirk in effect” He looked up to clockwork. The larger difference in height once again is a sign that his body is indeed changing.

  


“The effects should only be able the age of my quirks and not my appearance. So either, when you made a deal with All-for-One he gave you a quirk to strengthen Jack-in-a-Clock or a new quirk to make me physically younger. So tell me, which is it? And why would you betray your benefactor?”

  


Clockwork was now shaking in his hero costume. His breathing was heavy and he was clearly beginning to panic.

  


“Wha-Why would you think like that Izuku-sama?! You saw that All-for-One was attacking me too! You were the one who received his attack on me that’s how he stole one of your quirks!” Clockwork was frantically shouting now. He was desperate to plea for his innocence that he forgot the possibility of a patrolling hero to notice them. Fortunately, the place Izuku lead them to was a place that has little to none human activity.

  


“Huh, so you won’t answer me unless I get you completely cornered. Alright then, All-for-One attacked you because he saw no further use for you. He tried taking your quirk and the one he gave you because that would be a waste of resources. He has no further use for you ‘cause he knew that from the moment he attacked I would know who betrayed me.”

  


Izuku saw the signs of quirk activation on Clockwork. Using Jack-in-a-Clock now would be a gamble so Clockwork might be using the amplification quirk or the other Time-quirk from All-for-One. Izuku felt the quirk used on him earlier buzz from under his skin. If what he’s thinking was correct then he doesn’t have much time to waste.

  


“And one last thing, I saved you because I didn’t want All-for-One to take the quirk he lent you and the one you originally have. Time-quirks are really rare imagine how he’d look if he lose two valuable quirks from under his nose.” Izuku said as he took a last look on Clockwork before he activated his other remaining quirk aside from his Immortality quirk, the Dragon eyes. Izuku had this quirk hidden from all because of its distinct appearance. Even All-for-One didn’t know what his third quirk was.

  


“FUCK YOU!” Clockwork snapped. “All-for-One said he’d give me your immortality and make me his successor if I sold you out. You’re so dumb. You have this amazing and powerful quirk but what? You waste your time trying to kill yourself! Laughable! I hate you. You’re always so smug like you know everything, well guess what? Thanks to me you’ll turn into a baby, your memories will go away and you’ll be a helpless little kid. All-for-One would find you by that time and steal you Immortality quirk. While you might get the death you were looking for, know that thanks to you the worst villain this world has ever seen would be born!”

  


A maniacal laugh left Clockwork’s lips. Izuku sighed, too used to hearing those words to show any reaction. Though like always, he feels an ache in his chest that he’s learned to ignore.

  


“I should have known All-for-One would have gotten to you eventually but I got attached so shame on me. I knew that it was risky but the possibility of me dying this time was high so I took that chance.”

  


Clockwork was about to respond but he wasn’t able to because Izuku’s quirk was already on effect.

  


Izuku’s Dragon eyes give him vision similar to a high spec telescope and see things with clarity despite the distance between him and the object or person he sees.

  


He can also paralyze people if they look directly into his eyes. The victims are then subjected to fatal hallucinations. If Izuku focuses he can cause their entire bodies to cease functioning, including their hearts.

  


But when he uses this ability of his dragon eyes, he experiences a backlash that paralyzes his body although with the regeneration aspect of his Immortality quirk he’s only able to feel a slight numbness on his body.

  


“Sorry Clockwork. I won’t let All-for-One get my remaining quirks. He may be smart but I’m smarter and he may consider himself as a venerable elder but I’m older. I’ll die on my own terms and when I do we’ll see each other in hell.” When Shiraishi Hiroto fell down, Izuku used one of his remaining two support weapon to burn his body.

  


“Goodbye Hiroto.” The hurt expression Izuku showed was not seen by the dead man in front of him.

_  
_

_That’s better. That’s the way it needs to be._

_  
_

He took one last look at the child who once called him Dad then Big brother which switched to Izuku-sama. Living with a monster must have been hard so...

  


_I don’t blame you Hiroto. And I’m really sorry for everything._

  


He walked further down the road and passed by a shop. He saw his self on the glass. His overgrown dyed brown curls covered a bit of his eyes but in the darkness of the night, his dragon eyes shined a terrifyingly alluring golden light. When he grows up again from being a baby, his hair will be back to being dark with green shades. It’s a good thing that no one really knew his real appearance not even All-for-One. It would be good for going off the grid for now. He broke in the shop and got what he need.

  


It took him a while but he was able to go to a city called Musutafu after using his final support weapon to burn all of his things and saw two women walking down the dark and empty street. One was ash blond and the other was green haired, the latter crying while the former comforted her. Izuku was at the corner. He was now naked. And he was now a one year old baby boy, his dragon eyes and markings have disappeared when he turned five and when he turned two he felt that his regeneration weaken to the worst he’d ever felt but the immortality was still there, which is admittedly too bad.

  


Izuku found his thoughts in disorder. This is bad. He’s getting younger again. Izuku got inside the small flower basket he ‘found’ along the way and covered himself with a small blanket. He put the letter he wrote earlier on top of the blanket. When the two women were finally able to see him, Izuku was already a month year old baby. Crying, pure and innocent seemingly not tainted by the world that is full of filth. On the top of the folded paper, ‘Baby Izuku’ is written in beautiful handwriting.

  


He’s probably going to lose his memory and be raised as someone who isn’t an immortal monster, away from All-for-One away from all of this. He’ll probably come back to his own self when this body dies once again and regenerate. One day he’ll wake up from a dream and will never be able to sleep ever again, from the nightmare that is his life.

  
.

  
.

  
.

  
“Hey! Hey!” Izuku felt something like sand paper softly push repeatedly against his cheek. He moved his face away and put his arm on over his eyes.

  


“He-- Oh good!” Izuku felt like his head was smashed against a concrete wall with the headache he’s having.

  


The man kept talking.

  


“Oh man that gave me a fright. I thought those red markings were blood, thank God it wasn’t. Although I must say getting tattoos at such a young age is quite concerning. Of course, it’s a form of art that beautifully expresses one’s inner self but young man I advise you to wait until you’re older before getting more alright?”

  


This was getting annoying. Izuku felt like he’s hung over after drinking litres upon litres of alcohol and this person keeps nagging on and on. He vaguely remembered that there was a villain and someone saved him, was he the guy?

  


Izuku opened his eyes. When the two of them looked at each other, someone yelped. It was the man that looked like he spent too much time on the beach while snacking on steroids. Izuku raised an eyebrow.

  


“Are you alright?”

  


Izuku noticed the bottle on the man’s pocket that contained the sludge villain.

_  
_

_So he’s a hero huh?_

  


The man held a hand over his chest and breathed deeply.

  


“I apologize young man those eyes of yours just startled me. Is that because of your quirk or a mutation passed through generations? I have to say, they are quite beautiful.”

  


Izuku looked at him suspiciously.

  


“Um excuse me but... are you hitting on me?”

  


Heroes are still human after all so Izuku thought that there were bound to be perverts in the hero industry.

  


The man’s eyes quickly became as wide as saucers as he profusely denied any form of ‘hitting’ on Izuku. Izuku nodded cautiously at him and the man sighed in relief. He then hands Izuku his kind of burnt notebook.

  


“Here, I put my signature inside.”

  


Izuku quickly grabbed the notebook and put it at his side.

  


“I’m sorry but that’s creepy and I didn’t ask for it. So please don’t touch my stuff without permission. That’s just not okay!”

  


Once again the man panics, seriously where did he learn flirting from? He must have put his number on that signature with some lame message. He needs to stop because it’s really painful to watch. If Izuku was not over two hundred years old he would have definitely run and called the police.

  


“Wait young man do you not know who I am?” The man asks, confused. Well, at least his delivery’s very real. But still,

  


“I’ve heard that pick-up line before and please don’t hit on kids. There’s a club on the next city with people closer to your age if I remember correctly. Please go there.” Izuku bowed a perfect ninety degrees that expressed his genuine request for the man to go away.

  


When Izuku looked up the man looked like he was about to cry.

  


“So you were really serious about hitting on me huh? But I’m not really into that age difference stuff sorry tanned bear dude.” The man gasped.

  


Something inside Izuku seemed to scream that he was really really REALLY wrong about something but Izuku doesn’t know what it is. So he just continued talking to the man who seemed to be frozen in place.

  


“I’m really sorry tanned bear dude but I have to go. You were the one who saved me right? What’s your name? I can’t EVER see you in that way but I can be your friend and help you polish your flirting skills and my first advice, those pick up lines have got to go believe me.”

  


"Tanned bear- WHAT?!” Tanned bear dude spluttered. Izuku heard a series of ‘What?’, ‘Wait’ and ‘WHAT?!!’ but he still had no idea what the man was trying to say.

  


“Oookay so you can’t handle being friendzoned that’s fine. Well I really got to go. And despite the awkward flirting, I really thank you for saving me. Goodbye.” Izuku bows once again and then walks away. Leaving the poor man who seemed to shut down from whatever overwhelming barrage of emotions he was feeling.

  


Once Izuku was sure no one was following him he turned to enter an empty alleyway and leaned on the wall. Large beads of sweat ran down his face and he had a hard time catching his breath. Everything in his body hurt. His head felt like it was splitting open and his lungs burned. Izuku’s having a hard time pulling himself together. It’s a good thing he managed to distract the man earlier to let Izuku get away without going to the police or any hospital.

  


Izuku was not an immortal for nothing. It only took a few minutes for him to make sense of his situation and organize his thoughts and most importantly his memories.

  


The woman who took him in as a ‘baby’ is Midoriya Inko, a woman who was left by her husband because she was unable to conceive a baby. The night she found Izuku she was being consoled by her best friend Mitsuki Bakugou. After they read the letter Izuku made, Inko had decided to take him in and after all the legal matters were settled he then became Midoriya Izuku.

  


Thanks to Clockworks quirks Izuku’s memories along with his Dragon Eyes and Regeneration were sealed, unfortunately his Immortality really was too powerful to be affected. And since Immortality was the only active quirk he had, even though he didn’t have that extra toe joint that would have normally meant that he had a quirk, Midoriya Izuku was tormented, abused and was regarded as worthless for being thought as part of the twenty percent of humanity.

  


The treatment for the quirkless had been different two hundred years ago. Back then, they were the ones considered as human beings and those with quirks were the ones treated as freaks, monsters and some even called them the devil’s spawn. Oh, how the times have changed.

  


Even still, the quirkless today aren’t actively hunted by the government or experimented on by scientists so some from Izuku’s time may think if they were still alive like him or All-for-One, that things are still better for the quirkless now than those with quirks before. Although from what Izuku had seen, things are just as bad for them. Suicide seems like the logical choice for most of the quirkless population. Those who are stubborn enough to survive go to prostitution or decide to be auctioned off in the hopes of finding a good owner, which really has low likelihood and most of the time they are just subjected to the sadistic desires of the people who bought them.

  


For fourteen years, Midoriya Izuku had lived on as quirkless. And even though the worst had not happen to him, the physical and emotional abuse he suffered from society had branded him with despair and even with the love from his mother, Midoriya Izuku gave up.

  


Midoriya Izuku had died of suffocation at fourteen years old.

  


When the body had died, his Immortality quirk kicked in and at the same time the effects of Clockworks quirks were overpowered and Izuku’s memories along with his other quirks were released from within the depths of his psyche.

  


This was what Izuku had wanted. All-for-One didn’t achieve his goals, Izuku was free and is legally a part of society instead of the pseudo-vigilante he once was and he now has a family. Granted that it’s a small family but for someone like Izuku who was an orphan and lived most of his life alone this was a very big improvement.

  


Izuku should have been happy, but he isn’t. His heart hurt. Midoriya Izuku’s memories live within him and he’s aware that Midoriya was him. But he can’t help but see this kid as someone independent from him. They may share the same body but they are two completely different people.

  


The pure and bright smile he puts on when he eats katsudon and the determined light that comes from his eyes, those are not his. Midoriya Izuku was human and the real him was a monster. Midoriya Izuku had lived and died as a normal human being. It was ironic that he who has an incredibly powerful quirk had spent most of his life researching how to be quirkless, normal while his quirkless counterpart would have given anything to have a quirk, any quirk to make him feel like he was worth something.

  


Even when he lost his memories, he still didn’t get what he wanted the most. That goes to show that no matter what, he would be left longing for that one thing that he would never have. For Midoriya Izuku it was to live with quirk and to be someone special and for him it was to die quirkless and become a normal human being again. It felt like the world hated him. It felt like he was drowning, like everything was crumbling down around him and he couldn’t do anything but let the ruin happen.

  


Izuku was not stable. He just woke up from a fourteen year sleep by dying and was forced to bear the fourteen years worth of memories filled with despair and hopelessness. So to get it out of his system he needed to cry.

  


He really tried not to but he couldn’t stop. It felt like he needed to grieve for his two selves so he let the tears fall. He sobbed right there in an alleyway beside the street where people can see him as they walk by but he just didn’t care. He was really used to masking his emotions but this is the one time he really didn’t want to hold back. The world may treat him like a monster and he is but at this moment he cries and cries and let’s himself become human again, even if only for this short time.

  


Midoriya Izuku wanted to be a hero but the world wouldn’t let him. And since his dream of death wouldn’t come true anytime soon, he is at least gonna grant the wish of his other self. He’s going to be a hero, not as his two hundred sixty three year old self but as the fourteen year old Midoriya Izuku.

  


And if in the process he manages to kill All-for-One then nothing could be better – Well, death would obviously be, but killing All-for-One was more doable than his wish.

  


He’s so tired of living as himself so he’ll try to play the role of his counterpart. He’ll follow the script of Midoriya Izuku as he reaches for his dreams. And this monster will make sure to turn that dream into reality. This will be the story, the story of how Midoriya Izuku became the greatest hero.

  


And if people think that being helped by an immortal is cheating they will just have to learn that all men are not created equal.


	2. Being a Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku's first encounter with 'the Kacchan' and he learns who tanned bear dude is and Izuku, even as the old dog that he is, is freaking out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello let me just clear something
> 
> At ch 1 Izuku had 4 quirks which were from the anime and manga Akatsuki no Yona
> 
> 1, The White Dragon's Claw able to cut/slice/crush anything.  
> 2.The Green Dragon's Leg able to jump so high into the sky.  
> 3\. The Blue Dragon's Eyes able to see far away and paralyze anyone who looks at it  
> 4\. The Yellow Dragon's Body able to regenerate and gives immortality
> 
> The first two were stolen by AfO so Izuku only has 3 and 4. That's all folks please enjoy. And please watch the anime or read the manga of Akatsuki no Yona it's great :D

His eyes were sore and his face was tear-stained but after fixing his self the best he can, Izuku roamed the street to collect his thoughts before going back to Midoriya Izuku’s home. He didn’t know where he was but he snapped out of his daze when he heard the commotion from across the street.

 

He had came closer thanks to his curiosity and became shocked when he saw the same sludge villain that had caused his other self’s death just a couple of minutes ago. Did tanned bear dude let it get away? The fact that he was able to defeat the sludge villain must mean that tanned bear dude is quite strong, so how?

 

_Wait, was he that affected by my little stunt?_

 

"Hey isn’t that villain the one All Might was chasing earlier?”

 

“You serious?! Then maybe we’ll see him catch the villain!”

All might. That name felt familiar to Izuku. Then it clicks

.

.

.

“Hey kid.” The brown haired and two hundred twenty-eight year old Izuku greeted the fifteen year old Toshinori Yagi who was wearing the uniform of UA. This was a few weeks after Toshinori passed the entrance exam and became a first year in the heroics department.

 

Toshinori looked up at him cautiously. Since Izuku can’t age he still looked like a seventeen year old, the age when his Immortality quirk had really taken root at the depths of his DNA. He was wearing a clean long-sleeved shirt and black pants with big boots. His two more eye-catching quirks are hidden. His Dragon Claw is retracted and set at the smallest size it can, which is like a regular hand but with longer fingers and nails but it was hidden by his gloves. His Dragon Leg is also hidden by the big boots, so all in all Izuku looked pretty weird. And Toshinori had his guard up with him.

 

_Good. Always stay alert. You’ll live longer that way._

 

“Yes?” Toshinori asked.

 

“Tell your sensei that the two of you are safe and that he won’t be able to put you into any danger for now. Aside from the security from Nezu and UA, I’m also assisting in my own way so he can loosen up a bit.” Izuku tried to smile his best calming smile to get the boy to be more relaxed. This smile can make even a cold blooded killer warm up to Izuku and decades upon decades on the thin line of heroes and villains had made Izuku perfect the skill of faking all kinds of smile.

 

The smile Izuku gave to calm the boy did the opposite making Toshinori jump backwards and increase the distance between them. Good thing that it was still pretty early or else this would have gotten the attention of some people.

 

“Who are you?” Izuku could see the tiny sparks of One-for-All cover his skin and most of the energy was already flowing within the body naturally like blood. Izuku couldn’t help but smile.

 

_He has good instincts. And easily controlling 100%, we seem to have a prodigy here. Good. Good._

 

“Let’s just say that Gran and I go way back and I’ve known Nana since she was a brat.”

 

The mention of his master’s name seemed to have triggered something inside Toshinori making him instinctively attack Izuku. However, Izuku with a twitch from his Dragon Leg jumped almost ten meters off the ground. He stayed up there for a few seconds and Toshinori thought for a moment that the man was flying.

 

“How do you know my master?” Toshinori asked as Izuku gracefully landed on the ground. Izuku dusted off the non-existent dirt on his pants.

 

Izuku’s smile from before had disappeared. There was now a solemn, seemingly ancient expression on his face that sent shivers down Toshinori’s spine. It felt like one of his master’s gaze only this was calmer, like still waters and deeper, like the abyss waiting to engulf him.

 

“She’s a very dear friend. Believe me when I say I’m not your enemy. And if I just got there in time this wouldn’t have happened. I sincerely apologize for not saving her.” Izuku bowed a perfect ninety degrees startling Toshinori by the complete change in demeanour of the boy– no, man in front of him.

 

Toshinori seemed to have calmed down. But a concerned look came up on his youthful face. “Please don’t apologize. No one was at fault, so please don’t blame yourself.”

 

Izuku let out a small smile. _‘You really hit the gold in your successor Nana._ _One-for-All will be good with him.’_

 

“You’re right. So let me return those words to you, this is no one’s fault so don’t blame yourself Young Toshinori.” Within seconds he came closer to the students and petted his head with a genuine and fond smile on his face.

 

Toshinori gave him a wide eyed look, the dark bags in his eyes and tired air around him tells Izuku that sleep was eluding the boy.

 

“Don’t carry this burden alone. You have a faint scent of death on you despite being so young. I’m not telling you to not want to get revenge on All-for-One just don’t lose sight of the real goal.” The boy was clenching his fists and gritting his teeth on the mention of his master’s killer.

 

“Nana’s watching you y’know so better not disappoint her. And I’m also watching you Young Toshinori I’ll wait for the time when you tell the world ‘I am here’.” Frustrated tears were now streaming down the boy’s face. Izuku just smiled wider and tousled the boy’s hair.

 

“One last thing, tell Gran that we were both not fast enough so he can’t take the blame alone. Be sure to pass this alright?” Izuku started to walk away. Toshinori wiped his eyes from tears and called out to the man that knew his master and his sensei.

 

“You– Sir! What’s your name?” Izuku smiled at this.

 

“Let me guess, you’ll ask for my number next?” Toshinori blushed at this and before he could say anything Izuku continued.

 

“Just tell Gran that a beautiful monster gave that message.” Before Toshinori could have asked further Izuku asked the boy.

 

“How about you, kid. Who are you?”

 

Toshinori bowed deeply.

“Yagi Toshinori sir. 1st year at UA and the 8th holder of One-for-All.” Toshinori was still bowing when Izuku said.

 

“No. When the time comes when you tell the world ‘I am here’ who is this ‘I’? How will you be known as?” Toshinori looked up at him. Izuku looked at the boy’s face, feeling sad that he lost Nana this early.

 

“Yagi Toshinori, who are you?”

 

The boy visibly shook and he stood straight as he wiped the tear stain from his face. He gave Izuku a resolved look and he said with a watery smile.

 

“I will be the Symbol of Peace and the society’s pillar, I am All Might.” He sounded scared but determined at the same time. Izuku laughed good naturedly at this.

 

“Well then, All Might you better work on that smile of yours. I’ll wait to see the day you save people with a big smile. Like this.” Izuku flashed a wide grin to the boy, his most heroic and righteous smile. The one he often used when he passes by a civilian screaming for help. The one that gives people hope and one that convinces everyone that nothing is wrong. Saying everything will be alright, a smile to deceive everyone including himself.

 

“If you’re serious about being a pillar then start to learn how to fake a smile like this. Whatever happens whatever you feel smile like this. Because if you ask me? That would be the most difficult part of being the kind of hero you want to be.” Izuku waved his hands.

 

“Goodbye All Might. I’ll be rooting for you.” He caught the hint of awe and admiration on the boy’s face but he knew that nothing about him was admirable so he just smiled at the boy.

 

Izuku jumped up in the sky and disappeared within the busy city

.

.

.

That was the first and last time they’ve seen and talked to each other since after that he focused on the experiments on himself to find a way to die and frankly, he was out of touch to the outside world up to the night All-for-One attacked his lab.

 

_Oh, shit! He’s Nana’s successor! It’s Toshinori. I didn’t recognize him. He’s also in the kids memories from watching those hero videos why didn’t I notice?!_

 

“Poor kid. He’s wearing a middle school uniform, right?”

“Yeah I know, but the heroes will do something about it.”

 

The Heroes were shouting something.

“All we can do is wait for someone with a suitable quirk. Stand back, everyone.”

“Yeah we’ll reduce the damage in the meantime”

“Damn it. Hang in there kid.”

 

The useless chatter came off as white noise in Izuku’s ear. He was still reeling on the fact that he treated the inspiring brat from before like a pervert but aside from that he saw the kid being suffocated by the sludge villain.

 

“MORON! STOP! STOP!”

 

Izuku heard someone shout at him but he was still thinking about the situation.

 

_What am I doing? Why am I doing this?! Why?!_

 

Izuku kept getting closer and closer to the villain and the kid. Izuku has fourteen years worth of memories but there were three people that stood out from those memories. Midoriya Inko, All Might and...

 

“KACCHAN!” The nickname rolls easily off his lips.

 

_Oh shit, it’s the first time in a long while that my body moved on its own._

 

“What are you doing here?!” The stuggling boy, Bakugou Katsuki, yelled as he struggled against the sludge villain. He couldn’t even turn his head to Izuku’s direction so he must have guessed it was Izuku from the use of his nickname.

 

“I don’t know!” Izuku said as he yanked the sludge off of Katsuki’s nose and mouth.

 

_Fuck! Midoriya Izuku’s influence on this body is really strong!_

 

“My legs moved by themselves!”

 

Izuku remembered feeling the great desire of Midoriya Izuku to become a hero despite being labelled quirkless. In this situation the kid would probably say.

 

“Because your face seemed to be calling for help.” Izuku whispered to himself but judging from the expression he saw from the explosive boy, a mix of anger, dread and something Izuku could not read, he had heard what Izuku said as well but he was already falling in and out of consciousness.

 

The initial burst of adrenaline was gone and the shock Izuku got from the strange sensation of not having control of his body died down. Now he was quickly able to calm himself and assess the situation but...

 

_Fuck that. Consequences be damned. ‘I’ wanted to be a hero so isn’t this a good start towards that goal?_

 

With Izuku filled with resolve he jumped back and shouted.

 

“Mud man look here!” Izuku waved. His voice was hoarse from the attack from before and the crying session he had in the alleyway but his voice still reached the villain. The sludge villain looked him in the eyes.

 

 _Perfect_.

 

Izuku activated the quirk in his eyes. Suddenly the sludge villain froze in place. He couldn’t move he couldn’t dare because suddenly in place of the boy was the large shadow of something – a giant monster, his mind supplies.

 

“What did you do?!” The sludge villain shrieked. He can’t move and can’t feel anything as if he doesn’t even have a body. This is the feeling of death and the monster was still looking at him with those big golden eyes like he was trash even smaller than an ant. The sludge villain felt insignificant under that gaze.

\--

 

Bakugou Katsuki was about to pass out when he heard the villain shout something. The next moment the villain suffocating him began panicking and dropped him off the ground. Then a shrill scream filled the street. The next moment everything was silent.

 

Air painfully filled his burning lungs. When he looked up he saw the villain lying down on the street in front of... who is that?

 

The kid looked at him in the eyes. Katsuki couldn’t breathe. But unlike with the sludge villain, he didn’t want to fight it. Just when he felt like he was about to be sucked in to those golden eyes, the kid blinked and Katsuki could breathe again. The heroes quickly stepped in capturing the villains and putting the two of them on the side.

 

_What the fuck was that?!_

It took Katsuki a moment before looking at the kid again, careful not to lose his self to those eyes again.

 

“Hey you!” The kid pointed at himself. “Yeah you fuckface. Where’s Deku.”

 

The kid looked lost for a moment. “Deku? Me?” He answered in a gravelly voice.

 

This kid is an idiot. “Not you dumbshit, are you Deku? I think the fuck not. So bring that nerd out now!” Small explosions came from his hands but the bastard didn’t even bat an eyelash.

 

The boy knit his brows then said to Katsuki. “I think I get it. Kacchan it’s me, Izuku.”

 

“No you’re not.” Is this kid fucking with him?

 

Before the kid could reply the heroes with the paramedics came and checked on them. The heroes praised the both of them, Katsuki for being hanging on and his strong quirk and the kid for being heroic and for efficiently subduing the villain.

 

But he wasn’t listening to any of that. He was so fucking mad that the nerd even tried to help him before the other kid stepped in and did whatever to the villain. And now that useless nerd was hiding from him. He was probably scared shitless by now.

 

But what if the villain got him too? Katsuki glared at the paramedics. No fuck that. The quirkless idiot could kill himself for all he cares. He was just a waste of space that was always following him.

 

But he kept looking from where he sat at the pavement because he needed to make it clear to Deku that he never asked for his help and that he didn’t need to be saved. Just thinking about it makes his blood boil with the urge of killing the nerd. He’s sick of being looked down on by that trash.

 

“Hey kid you sure you’re alright?” The paramedics tending to the other kid asked. He just smiled up at them and said after drinking the water given to them he cleared his throat.

 

“It’s fine. I just feel a little numb. I’m not used to my quirk since it just manifested today after an incident happened to me.”

 

The heroes and paramedics gaped at him not knowing where to start. If this was true then this was amazing. Late bloomers were much rarer than being quirkless. And the fact that he was able to apprehend a villain the day he got a quirk says that he has genius level instincts. They were making a very big deal about it.

 

But that wasn’t the important thing to Katsuki. The voice the kid used to answer was familiar. Fuck familiar, he’d know that annoying voice anywhere!

 

“Wait sorry.” The way he apologized, there’s no doubt that’s fucking Deku! “My eyes are just straining a bit let me just” Deku closed his eyes.

 

Katsuki just stared. Now that those eyes were out of view he was certain this was Deku. He could also see some of his freckles under those red tattoos. And the stupid yellow bag on his back.

 

Katsuki growled. “Deku...”

 

Everyone looked at him. Deku turned his head and asked him. “Yes Kacchan?”

 

The calm tone he used like nothing wrong was going on made Katsuki lose it.

 

“You Fuckin– DEKU! You think this makes you better than me?! I could take care of myself shitrag! And what’s this shit you’re trying to pull off? Explain this shit now!!” He stood up and grabbed Deku by the front of his uniform.

 

“Hey you two.” The Pro Heroes tore him off Deku. The shitrag didn’t even seem fazed.

“You expect me to believe you, you lying fuck?! You’ve had a quirk all along, haven’t you?!” Two heroes were still holding him back from Deku.

 

“No Katsuki.” Deku opened his eyes. Together with the change of tone in his voice and use of his first name made Katsuki open his eyes wide in shock. “I’m not lying. See this?” He pointed at his eyes and tattoos on his cheeks. “This is the mutation from when my quirk manifested today. Only a rare quirk’s effect can hide mutations like this. But why would I go so far just to hide it. If I had a quirk before in all of fourteen years I would have probably told everyone already.”

 

He stepped closer to Katsuki looking at him dead in the eyes. “If you still believe that I’m lying then you don’t know Midoriya Izuku at all.” There was something in his eyes– anger, a voice in his head says. He’s mad that Katsuki would think that Deku would lie. Katsuki knew that but something inside him just wouldn’t accept it and kept saying Deku had been lying all along.

 

“And FYI, you were about to die and I saved you. And just so you know, I would still have saved you even if I was quirkless. I wouldn’t just stand around waiting for a SUITABLE quirk to come while someone was dying in front of me.” He glared at the heroes who looked taken aback from what Deku said.

 

“I’m going home.” Deku closed his eyes and walked away. No one stopped him. It was only until it started to rain and people made noise that they turned to look behind them.

 

“Did All Might just cause updraft with just air pressure?”

“What the hell!” “ALL MIGHT!” “That’s so cool!” “HOLD ME!”

 

All Might came towards them with a fallen expression. It seemed like he also heard what Deku said.

“Sorry, I wasn’t any help and it was my negligence that caused this.”

 

Katsuki hated that the first time he met his Idol and greatest wall to climb was in a situation where stupid Deku and the things he said were filling his mind. --

 

_Oh shit oh shit, fuuuuuuuuck._

 

A giddy smile floated on Izuku’s face. He still had his eyes closed to relieve the throbbing but he could still see with no difficulty, though he couldn’t use any of his abilities it was fine. The problem right now was the way he acted was so unlike his real usual self. Izuku should have gotten over the youthful recklessness and embarrassing emotional rants when he got past a hundred years old but nooo, Midoriya Izuku’s effect on this body and mind really was quite strong. He really did feel like a teenager again.

 

The feeling of the quiet buzz of the remains of Clockwork’s quirks reminded Izuku that whatever he was experiencing right now might not be so simple. But the worst thing that could happen was his death and that would just be the best thing ever.

 

Just remembering that he stood up to his other self’s bully was quite fulfilling. Even though he’s too old to get involved in the matters of children, said child was dead and he just promised him that he would turn his dreams into reality. His other self wanted to be friends with ‘the Kacchan’ and Izuku will try his best but that doesn’t mean he can’t teach ‘the Kacchan’ some lessons coupled with petty antics here and there.

 

As for the heroes, well, he plans to rip this rotten system from the inside and in what better way to start that than influencing the next generation of heroes? He also needs to re-establish his connections with some of the villains but that would be after he made contact with his very close friends on the hero side.

 

Plans and back up plans were currently being conjured in his head and the feeling of excitement was enveloping Izuku. It was the same feeling he had whenever he had a breakthrough on his Immortality Quirk Research during the first few decades he decided he wanted to die.

 

Because of his reminiscing he made a very rookie mistake. He didn’t pay attention to his surroundings. So what happened was...

 

“I’M HERE!”

 

“HUH?!”

 

Izuku jumped back in fright, forgetting that his Dragon Leg was gone so he fell flat on his ass.

 

Toshinori, the bear version was there in front of him. “Tanned bear dude!” Yes, he wanted to be mean, bite him.

 

When he heard that he coughed blood accompanied by a lot of smoke. LITERALLY COUGHED BLOOD. “Shit!” He searched his bag for tissues when he looked up and saw a different person but it was one that he recognized.

 

“YOU!” Izuku pointed. Toshinori changed from that bear form to a skeleton one but his new form really resembled his looks from his younger days even though still he looked wrecked.

 

“I am All Might.” He started.

 

 _No shit._ But for formality’s sake what he said was... “WHAT?!”

 

They were on the street so the truth could wait for when they were somewhere private.

 

“It’s good to know that you know the name of the number one hero.” So he was bitter about the exchange earlier. Izuku just nodded.

 

“It seems that you don’t know my face but let me tell you first that this is my real form that is not known by the public.”

 

 _I thought so._ Izuku was trying hard not to roll his eyes.

 

“You’re eyes are closed?” He asked.

“Just resting my eyes. I can still see thanks to my quirk. Continue.”

 

Toshinori nodded and lifted his shirt. Normally he would tell an old man’s perverted joke but what he saw was no laughing matter.

 

“This is a wound I got 5 years ago from a fight with a villain” Toshinori started and Izuku’s blood turned cold. Could it be?

 

“A villain?” Izuku looked at the body of the Symbol of Peace.

 

_From the placement of the wound, half of his lungs were damaged and his stomach should have been removed too. I once tried ripping my organs in an insanity fit so I know fatal injuries when I see them. His face and eyes are the same ones I had when I had repeated surgeries although it went away after a few days thanks to my regeneration._

 

He saw Toshinori gaping at him with his arms at his side and – _Oh shit did I say that out loud?_

 

“Yes you did.” Izuku clamped his mouth shut and covered it with his hands. Toshinori continued. “And your medical knowledge is impressive. I didn’t get everything but from the bits and pieces I heard, you are frighteningly correct about my injuries and the effects of the repeated surgeries.”

 

Izuku heaved a relieved sigh and nodded. Toshinori was still impressed but chose to continue. “Thanks to this I can only work as a hero for more than three hours a day.”

 

“Damn.” Izuku couldn’t help but say but then he went back to the most important question.

 

“The villain that did this to you...” he trailed off.

 

“The fight was hidden from the public so I can’t tell you anything aside from the fact that he is the greatest evil I had faced.” _All-for-One no doubt._

 

“I understand.” Izuku nodded. “But can I ask what happened to that greatest evil? Is he dead?”

 

Toshinori became silent at that.

 

“Most likely. He escaped but he was on the brink of death after the fight.”

 

 _Not good enough. He’s still alive._ Izuku quickly concluded. He needed to be prepared and warn the heroes shortly after this. He needs to talk to Toshinori somewhere safe. But before that he needed to check something.

 

“Even with your condition why do you still work as a hero?” He looked up at Toshinori– no, All Might. All Might took a deep breath and looked at his closed eyes.

 

“As the Symbol of Peace I need to save people with a smile and as the pillar of society I learned how to fake a smile and hide my fear. Whatever happens and whatever I feel I need to smile. A wise man once told me that this smile would be the most difficult part of being the hero I wanted to be and he was right. But he and the important people in my life are watching me I don’t have any time to slack off.” He flashed a melancholy smile at Izuku but it was like he was looking at somewhere far away. He shook his head and looked at Izuku.

 

“By the way the reason I looked for you was to tell you I’m sorry.” Toshinori bowed. “During the incident earlier I didn’t move because my time for the day was up but you, a kid and from what I heard a late bloomer risked your life to save someone.” He stood up and looked at Izuku.

 

“I felt really pathetic and ashamed. But you reminded me what a real hero was supposed to be. You now know that I’m weakening. And what I wish to tell you is...” Izuku gulped. He had a bad feeling about this.

“I want to make you my successor. You see my quirk One-fo – plfkagkjbrf” Toshinori found himself flat on the ground with a wide-eyed angry looking middle schooler in front of him.

 

“You-you idiot! Didn’t Gran tell you to be careful when talking about that. We’re in a fucking street! God, no one told me you inherited Nana’s lack of common sense. This is the problem with geniuses.” Izuku looked at the shaken figure of Toshinori.

 

“What are you looking at? Get up I know a place where we can talk.” Toshinori opened his mouth but...

“No talking. Shut it. Get moving chop chop!” He helped the confused hero up and walked towards the dump formerly known as Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, the place he had planned to clean as part of his work out to train the weak body of Midoriya Izuku to be more hero material but it was also a kind of private place and beggars can’t be choosers really.

 

And speaking of Midoriya Izuku, he needed to send a text to Inko to tell her that her son would be late or else he’ll get into trouble with her.


	3. To Break or Be Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toshinori proves that he has common sense. Izuku comes face to face with Inko. And Kacchan is emotionally constipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning. I think. Painful words were exchanged so yeah and I'm just being careful here it might not even be that bad. I hope.
> 
> I thank everyone who read, left kudos, commented and bookmarked. I thought I was hallucinating but when I woke up it was still there so thanks guys!
> 
> Edit: I found mistakes after posting ugh sorry

Toshinori didn’t know what was happening. One moment he was offering to make someone his successor, the next he got sucker punched by a kid who had his eyes closed. And now they were at the beach that is literally a dump. The sun was starting to set and the angry kid looked quite intimidating with the sun shadowing his face.

  
  


He only saw that kind of intimidation from Gran Torino but with his sensei, Toshinori had the urge to run away while with this kid the thought of running never crossed his mind because it felt like he wasn’t supposed move. He just needed to wait for the scolding to be done.

  
  


_ What scolding? You are a grown man and you’re afraid of a middle school kid?  _ But even with that he couldn’t will himself to move.

  
  


“Nice meeting you again Toshinori.”  _ What? How did he? _

  
  


He activated One-for-All and jumped back and took out his phone to call Nezu just in case. The kid with closed eyes just let a soft chuckle leave his lips and the intimidating air vanished instantly. His steps were light as he walked closer until he was in front of Toshinori. The way he carried himself with elegance and confidence didn’t seem right for his age.

  
  


“Who are you?” Toshinori asked in his muscled form, wary and alert.

  
  


“I was the beautiful monster that you met thirty four years ago. Remember? You were on your way to U.A and I–”

  
  


“Who are you?” He asked with a lowered voice. He was getting ready to attack because he already used up his time and he could only manage one attack right now.

  
  


The kid still looked relaxed. But he opened his eyes and his expression changed into something Toshinori had only seen once before. The one that had the calm and depth he couldn’t start to fathom even after all this time. The kid opened his mouth.

  
  


“Young Toshinori, I am Izuku I didn’t have a surname before but now I go by Midoriya. I am the third holder of One-for-All, friend and lover of the first holder, best friend of the second, foster father of the fourth, a brother to the seventh, your master Shimura Nana. And I am uh- a family friend of Gran Torino. Sadly I didn’t know the fifth and sixth holder but I talked to you once, the eighth holder All Might.”

  
  


Toshinori stared dumbly at the kid. He tried to say something but he couldn’t find his words. The kid closed his eyes and tilted his head.

  
  


“Didn’t Gran tell you anything about me? Like the fact that I have an immortality quirk?”

  
  


_ I-Immortality quirk?! _

  
  


Toshinori shook his head and said in a shaky voice. “He said you were a perverted cockroach that wouldn’t die.”

  
  


The kid laughed at this. “Of course he’d say that. But I can’t deny the cockroach part. That All-for-One brat attacked me at my weakest but here I am.” He smiled at Toshinori. “Was sealed for many years but got free, still alive and kicking”

  
  


Toshinori really didn’t know what to say. If what the kid– Midoriya said was true then... but no.

  
  


“All of this is too much to take right now. I’m sorry if you’re telling the truth but–” “It’s fine.” Izuku cuts in.

  
  


“I wasn’t expecting you to say ‘Oh okay I’ll believe everything you say without suspecting anything because a middle school student claiming to be an immortal and knowing about One-for-All and All-for-One is completely normal not suspicious at all’.” He said in a mock cheerful tone.

  
  


Toshinori couldn’t help but laugh. And Izuku? Midoriya? Smiled.

  
  


“And if you did say that I don’t know what I would have done to you.”

  
  


“You’re right about that um- what should I call you? If what you’re saying is true then...”

  
  


“Then nothing.” Izuku shrugged. “Just call me Izuku no honorific and just talk to me casually like Nana and Gran. I’ll call you Toshinori in private and with those who knows about me and I’ll call you All Might in public.”

  
  


Toshinori nodded. He’s still not comfortable hearing his master and sensei being referred to with such familiarity.

  
  


“If you’re gonna ask someone about me talk to Gran and Nezu and please tell them not to bother me until I enter U.A, I don’t need anyone noticing anything suspicious. I’ll answer all other questions then. Right now I have other things to take care of.” Izuku looked at his phone.

  
  


“Shit its six. Come back here six in the morning ten months later.” Izuku started to walk away but he turned back, face serious. “All-for-One is alive. Weakened? Maybe but definitely alive and he doesn’t need to be at a hundred percent to work his schemes.” The hair on the back of Toshinori’s neck stood up. Because he’d always had that feeling but having someone say that with such heavy certainty made everything real and final.

  
  


_ All-for-One, that bastard, is alive.  _ Toshinori clenched his fists gritted his fists and nodded at Izuku. He needed to go to U.A after this and contact Gran about Izuku and All-for-One.

  
  


He left the beach right after Izuku’s form was nowhere to be seen.

\--

 

“I’m home!”

  
  


Inko, busy from preparing dinner said. “Welcome home Izuku! We’ll eat after you change.”

  
  


She was preparing katsudon because Mitsuki congratulated her over the phone when she called after she heard her son Katsuki-kun, who was involved in a villain incident earlier, grumble about Izuku having a quirk and being a late bloomer.

  
  


She fought the tears as she put out the plates and everything else. She waited for Izuku after that. When she finally saw him, the tears she desperately held back came rushing together with a loud sob.

  
  


“Izukuuu!” She stood up and caught him in a big hug, crying in his small shoulders. “You’ve got your quirk! They’re beautiful!” She felt her son hug her back. 

  
  


He was hesitant at first but he hugged her while saying in a shaky voice. “Mo-mom. Thank you for everything and I’m sorry.” He hugged her tighter.

  
  


Inko just hugged her son with shaking shoulders and sobbed louder. She knew her son liked to over think things and may have thought of something to apologize for. She petted his hair as she said. “I love you Izuku! I’m sorry as well.” Izuku didn’t show it but Inko knew that he was hurt by her not believing his dream of becoming a hero when the doctors told them Izuku didn’t have a quirk.

  
  


After a while she pulled back and they proceeded to eat. Izuku looked weirdly at the katsudon but smiled afterwards. His smile was a bit strange but after everything that happened today it was understandable. But what was really strange was that Izuku didn’t cry even once since coming home.

  
  


She looked at his eyes again. Maybe his tear glands were affected by his quirk? The vertical slits of his eyes were a bit scary but on her Izuku those golden eyes looked warm like the golden ray of sunshine.

  
  


“Mo-mom?” Izuku looked up at her but he kept looking back down on his plate.

  
  


“What is it Izuku?” She has an idea what this was about and she swore in her heart that this time she will definitely support her son on his dreams.

  
  


“I’m going to U.A” The resolve on his voice make Inko choke up as she said...

  
  


“Yes.”

  
  


“I’m gonna be a hero.”

  
  


“Y-yes.” Tears rolled down her face again.

  
  


“I-I’m gonna save people with a smile.” 

  
  


_ ‘Like All Might!‘ _

  
  


The image and voice of a three year old Izuku came up in her head. She broke down as she said “Yes Izuku. You-you can become a hero.”

\--

 

Izuku hid a bitter smile as he looked down.

  
  


_ I wish you could’ve heard that Midoriya Izuku. The words you’ve always wanted to hear. I’m sorry for taking it in your stead. Sorry Midoriya Inko, for taking the place of your son. I have no excuse so just watch me make your son’s dream come true. It’s the least I could do. _

  
  


“I-I’m sorry for crying like that, I’m just so happy for you Izuku.” Inko wiped her tears as he remained looking down and nodded his head.

  
  


Izuku didn’t cry. His heart hurt for the two Midoriyas. But he didn’t cry. He just sat there silent. They continued eating and when they were done and cleaned everything Izuku told his mother. “Mom do we have any bandages? To cover my eyes.”

  
  


Worry could be seen in Inko’s face. “Why Izuku does it hurt? Oh of course it does you wouldn’t ask if that wasn’t the case. Are you alright? Do you need to see a doctor? Oh my God your quirk just came out of course you wouldn’t be oka–”

  
  


“Mom.” Izuku placed his hand on her shoulder and flashed a sincere smile at her.

  
  


_ So he got his mumbling from you. _

  
  


“I’m okay mom. It’s just that I’m not really used to it.” Not a complete lie, a hundred years of being unused and hidden made his control rusty. “And my eyes get a lot of attention. I can still see with my eyes covered so it’s alright. I’ll start training my quirk and body tomorrow. I found this beach called Dagobah with a lot of garbage and I thought that I can build up my strength while cleaning it.”

  
  


He looked at Inko. “Can I?” Even with Midoriya Izuku’s memories, he’s still unsure of how to act towards a parent especially one as sweet as Inko.

  
  


Inko smiled at him with motherly affection. “Of course Izuku and I’ll make a cloth to cover your eyes right away.” She said while trying to get in her room to probably get her materials.

  
  


“What? No ma-mom.” Shit he almost said ma’am again. “You don’t have to.”

  
  


She playfully slapped his arm. “Shush you. My son’s gonna be a hero so I have to give my best!” She held up her fist in the same way Midoriya Izuku pumped his self up when he went out and looked for hero fights.

  
  


_ He really does take after you. _

  
  


Izuku smiled and said, “Thank you.” instead of Midoriya Izuku’s normal ‘Sorry’, a bad habit of his counterpart that Izuku decided to break. Inko seemed to notice the difference in his response and she just wiped her eyes and smiled widely at him.

  
  


That night he stayed up late with Inko as she made a makeshift bandage/blindfold from a thick and clean white cloth that wasn’t too tight fitting and can be tied from behind. It was at arm’s length at first but it was cut from behind so that it ends at inches below his neck. It covered his brows and stopped over the red markings on his cheeks.

  
  


‘The marks look cool it’s a shame if we cover it.’ Inko said when she cut the cloth when it covered a bit of the marking.

  
  


They said their good nights when they finished and Izuku thanked Inko for the extra effort of making the bandage/blindfold.

  
  


Izuku didn’t sleep that night. With his regeneration, albeit still a bit weak from being forcedly sealed, he wouldn’t get tired or sick. He just laid there sorting through the memories slowly. Capturing everything that happened and studying every person in the memories and observing Midoriya Izuku’s attitude, habits, personality just, everything about him and thinks of the things he can improve without arousing suspicions from the people who knew him best and the longest, Midoriya Inko and Bakugou Katsuki.

  
  


_ But the mumbling is kind of disturbing and it seems impossible to break the habit right away. _

  
  


He needed to adjust all of his plans when he added Midoriya Izuku’s personality in the equation, which admittedly wasn’t really hard since his other self’s personality stemmed from his base parameters. It’s just saying that if Izuku had experienced life like that in the very beginning he would just be like Midoriya Izuku, strong and bright. If the villain didn’t attack that day he’s sure that the kid wouldn’t follow through with his suicidal thoughts, he just wasn’t thinking clearly when he let that sludge suffocate him, pliant and despondent. He would have been a great person bringing hope to people in whatever profession he pursued once he genuinely tried fixing himself instead of just hiding and crying in those moments of weaknesses.

  
  


Next is the body. Since before all this, Izuku’s body stopped growing at age seventeen and he didn’t have any physical strength aside from his quirks. Now that two of his offense oriented quirks were taken, he needed to train this body before the effects of Clockworks quirks stop interfering with his immortality quirk’s effect of stopping his physical growth. Izuku hopes he gets to be in the twenties at least when he stops aging again because he’s sick of looking like teenager his whole life.

  
  


When it was four in the morning, Izuku got a post it note and wrote ‘out running’ and put it on his door and silently went out the house and jogged towards Dagobah.

  
  


_ I’m whipping this body into shape starting this weekend. Sorry Midoriyas, I’m gonna be breaking some bones and tearing some muscles from now on but I promise this won’t be mindless self harm like I did in the past. _

\--

  
  


Bakugou Katsuki is fucking pissed.

  
  


It’s been one week since the sludge fuckfest and people had been pointing at him on the street since then. Fucking Deku lucked out when he got away just before the media wormed their way towards him. He was seen on the television as the damsel in distress and Deku remained the mysterious heroic middle school boy that was reckless and inspiring at the same time.

  
  


And worse is that the fucker didn’t even seem to care. He just went back to school with his pretentious blindfold acting mysterious and getting the attention of the school. It was chaos when the teacher congratulated the nerd with the enthusiastic smile on being a late bloomer as if he wasn’t treating him like air before.

  
  


The news quickly spread and suddenly everyone could see and hear Deku. The way they fawned over the nerd disgusted him. Asking about his quirk and if he can see with those kinky fuck over his eyes.

  
  


‘Yes I can still see clearly thanks to my quirk.’ Deku said in a monotone voice when the annoying fucks kept bugging him.

  
  


His quirk. Katsuki was still seething on the prospect of the fuckwad lying about being quirkless but the talk he was forced to with his parents made him entertain reluctantly the possibility that ‘No, Deku was not keeping it a secret so he can overtake you when you make a mistake. He wasn’t lying.’

  
  


But Katsuki really didn’t give a fuck whether the fucker had a quirk or not because Deku had always been observing him with those creepy ass notes listing every weakness he can see. Quirk or no quirk, Deku had always been looking down on him, acting like he didn’t want a fight when the light in his eyes every time when he saw his quirk said otherwise.

  
  


_ ‘I know your weakness.’ _ It seemed to say to Katsuki and it pissed him because he wasn’t  **fucking weak** .  _ ‘I’m going to know everything and when I do I will be stronger than you.’ _ Always scheming always hiding behind that weak facade. Everyone seemed to buy it but Katsuki knows. Katsuki sees the fire just waiting to burn him to ashes.

  
  


So last week when he heard that the fucker was applying to U.A he was outraged –  _ threatened _ , a small voice said in his head. The people in this shit school couldn’t see it but everyone in that school, the best hero school will see it. The intelligence, the resolve and the fucking spirit that he’d always hated. That stupid need to save people that was the exact opposite of his need to win and beat all the villains that get in his way.

  
  


_ ‘Kacchan!’  _ He hated that desperate voice that called out to him when he was in the face of death. And he hated that he felt relieved that that fucking nerd was there  **saving him.** He, the one who was headed to the path of the number one hero even for a moment, thought that he needed help from that pebble in his road to success, from an extra in the story where he was supposed to be the main character.

  
  


He was expected to be weak, quirk or no quirk he was supposed to be below him. Katsuki  **knows** that he’s above that little shit. Every cell in his body was screaming that he needs to show his dominance on that fucking twig.

  
  


So he did. Later that day he called Deku out in the back of an old school building. He looked at his phone. The nerd was three minutes late.

  
  


He saw the shitrag with his big yellow backpack, big red shoes, that fucking blindfold that covered his eyes and those tattoos that looked fucking stupid on his face. Even with the blindfold he seemed to see Katsuki as he greeted him with a soft smile.

  
  


“Hey Kacchan.” No stutter. His voice was quiet but firm. It was lower pitched than the one he was used to.

  
  


“Fuck you.” He glared at where Deku’s eyes should be.

  
  


The fucker only made a small smile and said with a small innocent voice.

 

“Oh, I thought this was a confession considering where we are but with that opening I’d say this is not my lucky day.” He scratched the back of his neck. An action Katsuki was used to seeing whenever the nerd was embarrassed and feeling awkward.

  
  


Meanwhile Katsuki was furious–  _ confused _ the voice in his head supplemented. What the fuck was that fucking idiot saying? Did he go crazy from all the attention his stupid as fuck quirk got? What in the–

  
  


“...king.”  _ What? _

  
  


“What the fuck?” He glared, still furious–  _ confused _ .

  
  


“I said I was joking Kacchan. What did you want to talk about?”

  
  


And what the fuck was the nerd on?

  
  


“Are you fucking with me huh damn nerd?!” Small explosion popped from his palms. The moved should have made the shitstain flinch but Deku just smiled.

  
  


_ Shit! He just got a quirk for fucks sake! What the fuck happened?! _

  
  


“No, I am not fucking with you Kacchan. Why did you call me here?” Deku answered seriously and Katsuki didn’t know why but that made his rage boil over.

  
  


_ Why did I call him here? _

  
  


_ To make him fear you.  _ The voice in his head answered.

 

_ Let him believe that he’s nothing so that he’ll never try to surpass you.  _ The voice continued.

 

_ Break him Kacchan.  _ The voice whispers in his head.  _ Break me so that I won’t follow you again.  _ It didn’t stop.

 

_ Break me or I’ll break you.  _ Deku’s voice inside his head didn’t stop. There was only one way to get rid of it.

  
  


Katsuki let his rage and instincts take over. He lunged at the nerd, feeling satisfied at the feeling if his face against his fist and holding his scorching palm on his cheek. For a moment Deku just laid there looking at the sky and then Deku sat up and took off his bag and turned his head to him. Katsuki felt like he was being watch even if the nerd had his eyes covered by the burned blindfold.

  
  


“What? Just because you fucking have a quirk you think you can take me now? I don’t care whatever shitty quirk you have I will still be above you.” Katsuki growled out.

  
  


“So you don’t care whether I have a quirk or not?” Deku asked mouth in a straight line.

  
  


“Fuck you you’re still useless with or without a quirk.”

  
  


_ Not enough Kacchan that won’t break me. I’ll just come running to you again and I’ll watch you for weaknesses and I’ll use those against you because I’m better than you quirk or no quirk. _

  
  


“So you don’t really care that I’m not quirkless anymore?”

  
  


“Shut up...” Katsuki started. “Fucking shut your mouth Deku. I will always be better than you even with a quirk don’t ever forget that or else I’ll throw you off the roof myself. They’ll all think it was suicide cause everyone knows you’re a worthless piece of shit even with that weak ass quirk you have.” He glared at that sitting form.

  
  


_ Break me...  _ “No one would miss you.”  _ Or I’ll break you  _ “Your real parents never did when they left you.”

  
  


Katsuki felt something in his chest when he said that. He heard it before from when the old hag was on the phone with Deku’s mom or from what he heard, foster mom.

  
  


He didn’t know what to expect from Deku after saying that. Would he cry like the wuss he is? Would he be confused and ask Katsuki? Will he finally stay the fuck away from him?

  
  


Katsuki would have had a million guesses but it sure as hell wouldn’t be this.

  
  


Deku was smiling. Not that shaky smile when he held back tears. It was a small, steady smile. A smile he saw on some famous painting of a woman by that Leo- Lion man. It was reserved, happy, and sad. There were a lot of emotions hidden in that one smile. That smile was a lot of things, but it was something that shouldn’t be on that nerd’s face. It felt wrong–  _ painful _ , looking at that smile.

  
  


A fleeting thought of  _ ‘Did I cause this? Was it my fault’  _ crossed his mind. But his defence mechanisms started up and he wore anger like a blanket to cover his self from the weak thoughts so that it won’t reach him.

  
  


The Deku in his mind held fucking blankets over his head continuously piling it over him, smothering Katsuki with rage.

  
  


_ It’s alright you’re doing great break me more. You’re scared of me right? It’s fine to be angry you’re not wrong Kacchan. _

  
  


Slowly Deku stood up from the ground with that shitty smile on his face. He dusted himself off and took off the ruined blindfold. That smile was still there when he looked at Katsuki. And those eyes, those golden eyes sucked him in again. Emptiness, hurt, resignation, hate, anger, shame, fear and a lot of other emotions were presented in those eyes. It was too much for Katsuki so he stepped back and looked away.

  
  


_ This isn’t Deku.  _ That was his first thought. But at the same time he knows those emotions are Deku’s. That was Deku behind that weak facade. But something really felt wrong –  _ painful _ , with that look with that kind of smile. It was heavy. It was otherworldly. It felt like he wasn’t really there and one touch would make him go away.

  
  


Katsuki didn’t dare to move or even breathe which made him knit his brows. Because didn’t he want the nerd to disappear?

  
  


Deku still had that look when he started talking.

  
  


“Do you see the bruises healing Kacchan?” He pointed at his cheek and he was right it looked like it was barely there. Katsuki was about to say something when Deku continued.

  
  


“I still didn’t update my record to add the quirk but I’ll tell you now that regeneration is a part of my quirk.” Katsuki looked at the small burn near his nose that was slowly healing.

  
  


“Did you know that there are scars on my body Kacchan?” Deku put on a contemplating expression. “They’re healing Kacchan slowly, on my back, shoulders, chest, and legs. Really it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I’m almost made of burn marks Kacchan.”

  
  


“Everything you’ve done to me will disappear. That’s a relief right? Well, that is if you’ve even thought about it.” He stepped closer to Katsuki. He wanted to step back but he planted his feet on the ground. No way is he gonna back down from the nerd.

  
  


“I’m not bitter really. I don’t even know why.” Deku chuckled weakly. Then he looked up staring at him.

  
  


“I have a question Katsuki.” He leaned in. Not too close but close enough. Deku looked like he was searching for something in Katsuki’s eyes. It seemed like he found it cause he smiled again. Katsuki felt himself shivering.

  
  


“Why are trying to break something...” Deku stepped back and held out his arms. “That’s already so broken?”

  
  


Katsuki let out a barely audible gasp. The light of the setting sun painted Deku like he was being taken away and that almost made Katsuki hold up his arms and reach out, but he didn’t. The smile paired with the things he said made Katsuki feel something he doesn’t want to acknowledge. He doesn’t know what it was but he was sure he didn’t want and need it. Especially with the way it made him feel.

  
  


Deku went and picked up his bag and put it over his back. He looked at Katsuki and flashed a tired smile. Finally looking like the nerd he knew.

  
  


“You don’t really have to try hard at breaking me Kacchan.” He turned around and Katsuki picked out the small mumble of “Really, ‘I’ may still have had a chance of fixing before but the ‘me’ now is just irreparable, nothing but death can fix me.”

  
  


Katsuki just stood there until the nerd went away denying the onslaught of emotions crashing against him and trying hard not to acknowledge the reason why he felt like crying, because no he wasn’t fucking crying for that useless, worthless, and helpless piece of trash.

  
  


The insults left a bitter aftertaste like always. But this time it felt harder to ignore. He went home late that night and ignored the hag’s question of why his eyes were sore and looked like he was in a big fight.

  
  
He might have shouted “I just went and let off some steam!” but he wasn’t sure because he fell asleep as soon as he his head hit the pillow. His dreams filled with beautiful golden eyes and ethereal smiles.


	4. Normalcy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakugou Mitsuki visits the Midoriya Household. Katsuki has feelings. And Inko is best Mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: okay found mistake no. 1
> 
> Izuku said two weeks after kacchan burned the blindfold no, it should have been three months.
> 
> Already changed it.
> 
> If this doesn't make sense to you thank god you didn't see my blunder.

Bakugou Mitsuki may not be the perfect mother but she is sure as hell is trying her best, especially since she has the poster boy for anger issues as her only son.

  


And now as she watched her son wolf down his breakfast with the ever permanent scowl on his face, Mistuki couldn’t help but be worried. It started three months ago, when her son went home looking beat up with his eyes swollen. From tears, Mitsuki concluded.

  


She didn’t believe that her son cried for being beat up by some punk so the only other thing she could think of is that something frustrated him so much that he cried and went out and looked for a fight to get his mind off it.

  


And it seemed that she was right. There would be times that she would see him spacing out and thinking about something and it clearly pissed him off from the frown that would always be on his face during those times. Seeing her son with that expression wouldn’t normally worry Mitsuki but the thing is that it’s been almost three months and he’s still doing that face!

  


“Eat slowly brat you make it look like we’re not feeding you enough.” She said as she handed the cup of coffee to Masaru who was currently spacing out likely thinking about a project at work.

  


If Katsuki got most of his facial features and rough personality from her then he definitely got his competitiveness from his father who, despite being a gentle person, is always aiming to be number one in his job.

  


“Shut up hag.” He said as he continued wolfing down his breakfast.

  


They continued the breakfast with the mother and son yelling at each other with the father sipping his coffee thinking about how to he could beat what the other team presented two days ago.

  


Since Mitsuki observed her son’s brooding three months ago, Katsuki had started training every weekend on the mountain in preparation for the U.A practical exam ten or so months from now. Mitsuki always worried for him because to her it looked like he was using it to distract himself from the thing that was bothering him.

  


One particular Sunday after telling her husband and son where she was going, she went to hang out with Inko since both of them have a day off work. At noon she excitedly rang the doorbell of the Midoriya household. It wasn’t Inko that answered the door but her son, Midoriya Izuku. If not for that messy mop of hair and that smile as bright as the sun she wouldn’t recognize who he was.

  


The Golden eyes with vertical slits are majestic to say the least and aside from that Izuku-kun had started to fill out since she last saw him. She saw the signs of the cinnamon roll being someone people drooled over she felt an odd sense of pride of knowing him before he became that person.

  


“Auntie! Please come in Mom’s waiting for you.” The bright smile and the warmth his beautiful eyes radiated squeezed her heart making her hug the adorable son of her best friend.

  


“Oh my god Izuku-kun what are you doing to an old lady’s heart.” She kind of squealed but only someone without a heart could not be done in by this cuteness monster.

  


Izuku-kun just smiled at her and said “Don’t call yourself old Auntie you’re still so young after all.” Years of experience with a tsundere son taught Mitsuki how to differentiate the things people meant to say and what they say just for the heck of it.

  


Hearing nothing but sincerity from Izuku-kun’s words she shouted to Inko from across the hall.

  


“Oh my god Inko CAN I TAKE HIM HOME WITH ME?!”

 

“How dare... I WILL fight you Mitsuki!” Came Inko’s gentle voice laced with mock anger.

  


Izuku-kun looked surprised for a moment but then he suddenly snorted a laugh that reached his eyes.

  


“Let’s just get inside Auntie.”

  


Mitsuki pinched his cheek before going inside followed by the boy holding a palm against a swollen dumpling.

  


As usual, Inko was there with tea and snacks on the table. They exchanged pleasantries and got into catching up and the latest gossip around town. After a few hours, Izuku came with a fresh batch of cookies, wearing an All Might apron and All Might baking gloves.

  


“Thanks Izuku.” Inko smiled at her son and said son returned the smile. Mitsuki felt like covering her eyes by the sheer brightness of the pair.

  


“Please tell me how it tastes. Is it too sweet? Not sweet enough? Did I put enough chocolate? Is it bad? I just can’t seem to perfect the–”

 

“Izuku dear you’re muttering.” Inko said as she ate the cookies. Mitsuki laughed as she took one herself.

 

“Oh shit I did it again.” Izuku said under his breath.

  


Inko and Mitsuki looked at each other and two things happened at once. Inko choked on her cookies and Mitsuki fell off her chair when she tried to stand up abruptly.

  


“Izuku-kun! Did my shitty son teach you to speak like that? I’m going to kill that brat. I’m sorry Inko for what happened to Izuku-kun!” She looked up and saw Inko quickly sipping on her tea. After clearing her throat she stood up and helped Mitsuki to her feet and said with a solemn face.

  


“It’s fine Mitsuki. We all knew this day would come. I just... I just thought it wouldn’t be this early.” She sniffed and Mitsuki patted her back as she picked up the chair and put it aside. Izuku just stood there looking dumbstruck.

  


“Um- I just said shit?” And Inko gasped. Mitsuki knitted her brows and reprimanded Izuku-kun.

  


“Let Inko adjust Izuku-kun. We’ve all known you would grow older and use grown-up words. It’s... It’s okay just give us a moment.” And a moment it is. Mistsuki helped Inko back into her seat and Izuku just stared, not knowing what to do.

  


Inko still had her face covered when she called Izuku-kun over. “Izuku?”

 

“Yes Mom?” He quickly went to her side.

  


Inko removed her hands and smiled widely at Izuku-kun’s confused face and she said.

  


“We’re just funnin’ you dear I’m sorry.” But the smile she had said she wasn’t sorry at all and Mitsuki gave up and laughed her ass off.

  


“It’s something we’ve talked about in high school Izuku. That the first time we hear our children cuss we’d make a big deal about it and make them uncomfortable.” Inko sheepishly smiled.

  


“You should’ve seen your face!” Mitsuki slammed her fist on the table repeatedly.

  


“Okay okay that’s enough Mitsuki I think we’re being a bit mean now.” Inko said that as she wiped the tears from her eyes while still laughing.

  


They both looked at Izuku-kun, who stepped back, gauging his reaction. They expected embarrassed or frustrated but he was just looking fondly at the two of them with his golden eyes exuding warmth. Like a parent looking at his kids playing pranks. For a moment, it felt like they were children again.

  


“Just because you both look young doesn’t mean you get to do childish stuff.” He slowly shook his head with a tender smile as he made ‘tsk tsk tsk’ sounds like Mitsuki’s dad did whenever she’d put gum on his shoes or do anything ‘stupidly adorable’ as her father used to say.

  


Nostalgia hit her hard and from the look on Inko’s face it looked like it hit her hard too.

  


“Well?” Izuku-kun raised his eyebrows. “What did you think about the cookies, were they good?”

  


Instead of responding, Mitsuki looked Inko dead in the eyes and said. “Can I take him home?”

 

Inko just looked at Mitsuki as she sipped a new cup of tea. She put it down and said seriously. “I will fight you.”

  


A second passed and the two of them erupted into laughter with Izuku-kun just shaking his head on the side.

 

“It’s very delicious Izuku the sweetness is perfect.”

 

“Yeah you baked that like a pro. But seriously I want you in my family. Wish I had a daughter so you could be my son-in-law.” Mitsuki pouted.

  


Izuku slipped off one of his gloves and took a cookie. “Still too sweet.” He commented as he took off the apron and the other glove and put them away. Then he looked at Mitsuki. “It doesn’t always need to be a girl Auntie.” Mitsuki gaped. Izuku turned and walked away but looked at the two women with open mouths. “I’m going...” He pointed to his room. He waved his hand with a wink and a playful smile. “Bi~”

  


Let it be known that the Midoriya household was filled with squealing that day. Very loud squealing.

  


It was shortly after that that Mitsuki had to go home because it was getting late. Inko opened the door and Mitsuki stood outside with a goofy smile.

  


“I just witnessed the coolest coming out ever.” She said. Mitsuki hesitated a little but then asked. “Are you...? I know you’re not judgey about issues like that but are you–”

  


Inko put a hand on her arm and showed her a genuine smile. “I wouldn’t care about his sexuality Mitsuki. I’m not that kind of person. I won’t tell anyone how to live their life happily. I just want Izuku to be happy Mitsuki.” Inko put her hand on her other arm and looked down for a moment.

  


“I’d be lying if I said that I’m not worried about what people would say but that worry is for my son and not for some superficial appearances.”

  


She looked up and showed her a smile that conveyed her unconditional love for Izuku-kun.

 

“His happiness is the most important thing to me.”

  


Mitsuki hugged her tight and when she let go she showed Inko a toothy grin.

 

“You’re not alone in that. And if anyone disrespects Izuku-kun tell me and I’ll come running with my baseball bat.” The seriousness of what Mitsuki said at the end made Inko laugh out loud. She wiped happy tears as she said to Mitsuki.

  


“Izuku and I are lucky to know you.”

  


Mitsuki shook her head and said with a laugh. “Oh no, I’m the one who’s lucky to know both of you.” She patted her best friends shoulder and said with a reassuring smile. “And Izuku’s lucky to have you as a mother.”

  


Inko shook her head with great intensity. “We’re the one’s lucky to have him. He’s a true gift and I don’t know where I’d be without him.”

  


Memories from fourteen years ago came back, when her best friend’s heart was both shattered and sparked to life in one night. The night her bastard of an ex-husband divorced her and the night they found Izuku-kun.

  


There had been a letter stating his name and age and the one who left the baby wrote that ‘This kid is in danger, so please keep him safe.’ There was a number written beside that was actually the number of a lawyer who helped them arrange everything about Inko adopting baby Izuku. Everything happened so fast that it didn’t even take a week to settle all the legal procedures and Izuku became Midoriya Izuku.

  


Remembering their happiness and Inko’s choked up expression as she held Izuku in her arms brought tears in her eyes. Izuku had indeed been a gift, had always been and always will be not just to Inko and her but to anyone who would have the blessing of meeting him and having him in their lives.

  


“Izuku’s an angel.” She said as they hugged again. After a while they wiped their tears and Mitsuki went home feeling emotional.

  


She cleaned the house and made dinner with that fluffy feeling in her chest. At dinner Masaru and Katsuki gave her probing glances. But no one said anything because Masaru knew that Mitsuki would tell him everything later and Katsuki didn’t ask because he didn’t want anyone to know that he cares and has feelings. He thinks that it makes him weak, he’s a dumbass.

  


After dinner, Masaru was watching television while Mitsuki was looking for the pudding she kept in the fridge when Katsuki came and sit on the chair and started glaring at her from the dining room.

  


Mitsuki saw that same troubled expression on her son so she abandoned her pudding hunt and went to sit on the opposing chair.

“What got your tampons in a twist there brat?”

  


Her son just scowled at her and said nothing else.

 

 _So this is serious._ Mitsuki thought as she got rid of her smirk and turned her mother on.

  


“Ask me anything.” Katsuki looked at her face and his scowl deepened. Mitsuki waited for a few seconds before he opened his mouth and asked.

  


“You were at Deku’s today.” _Not a question but I’ll take it._

 

“Yeah.” Katsuki glared at the table.

 

“Something happened.” Mitsuki raised her brow. She felt the fluffy feeling in her chest again.

 

“You could say that, yeah.” Katsuki raised his head and looked straight at her eyes.

 

“Is it bad?” _What?_

 

“What’s bad? What are you talking about, brat?” Katsuki didn’t break eye contact. He was growling and trying hard not to shout his frustrations and not have a proper conversation.

 

“Between Deku and Auntie Inko. Is. It. Bad?” His eyes were very intense.

 

_Bad between Inko and Izuku-kun. Something that happened today... wait._

 

Mitsuku stood up. “How did you know that?!” _Could it be...?_

 

Katsuki winced. He looked back at the table and it was like he was trying very hard not to explode something.

 

“I...” Katsuki started in a low voice. Mitsuki let him continue. “I told him.” Mitsuki’s eyes became wide as saucers. It felt like fireworks were in her chest.

  


_Could Izuku-kun really be my future son-in-law?!_ Mitsuki tried hard to stop herself from squealing. She took a deep breath and asked her son.

  


“What did you tell him Katsuki.” He must have thought Mitsuki was angry at him because he flinched.

  


A face splitting smile was forming on Mitsuki’s face. She felt excited. She can’t wait and tell Inko–

 

“I told Deku he’s not Auntie’s real son.” _What?_

 

A second.

 

“YOU SAID WHAT?!”

\--

 

Izuku and Inko just finished dinner and were currently watching television while sitting on the couch making something. After Mitsuki or Auntie, as Midoriya Izuku would have called her, left and went home, Inko knocked and went inside Izuku’s room where he was studying the lessons from their school and the possible subjects of the written exam of U.A.

  


Weekdays would always involve physical and quirk training and weekends would be baking and intelligence training. Plus seeing her son rest for the weekend eases Inko’s worries about his supposed health.

  


Inko had come in and hugged him tight. Izuku reciprocated and hugged her back.

  


“I love you Izuku.” He felt it in her voice. She loves her son. To Izuku, this was new but he was moved. So as Izuku he said “Thank you.” And as Midoriya Izuku he added “I love you too Mom.” And he hugged her tighter.

  


They spent the rest of the evening talking about this afternoon or other random topics. They’d talk about what characteristics Izuku liked in a person and Inko told him to promise her that he’d tell her if someone was courting him or if he was courting someone. She wanted to show her support and said that she’d like nothing but the best for her son and told him to always be open to her.

  


Izuku still needs to get used to this feeling of domesticity. It’s been a very long time since he felt this safe, this carefree just spending his time laughing, talking and letting time pass by without thinking about society and his unattainable death.

  


Inko stood up from the couch and stretched. He felt bad for her, being a single parent is never easy. He remembered the fourth holder of One-for-All who was an orphan like him. The twinge in his heart didn’t go unnoticed but nothing showed on his face.

  


“Good night Izuku.” Izuku gave her a sheepish smile.

 

“Good night Mom. Thank you for making more.” He said as he looked at his hands holding another two blindfolds.

  


It’s been three months since Katsuki ruined his only blindfold and after that Izuku learned fast and helped Inko as they made one each every night.

 

‘They’re like spare glasses, aren’t they?’ Inko once said when they made more than ten blindfolds.

  


“You don’t need to thank me Izuku. Now go to sleep already. You still need to wake up at five, right?” Izuku is learning to cope to being taken care of but with every night that he dives into the memories of his other self he feels more and more in tuned with his inner sunshine boy.

  


“Yes Mom.” He said as he proceeded into his room. Before laying down the bed and treading into the memories of his other self, he would read Midoriya Izuku’s Hero Analysis Series and he would always feel respect towards his counterpart for the thought put into every entry.

  


Izuku’s mind drifted to ‘the Kacchan’ and his relationship to Midoriya Izuku.

  


From that talk they had behind the school building Izuku had come to confirm something. Katsuki’s hate for Midoriya didn’t come from him being quirkless. Just being quirkless didn’t warrant the pathological behaviour Katsuki had shown for Midoriya Izuku. ‘The Kacchan’ also has an inferiority complex especially towards his other self. The question is why? Midoriya Izuku has nothing but admiration for Katsuki. Hell, the kid considers him as his image of victory!

  


His counterpart has never presented himself as a threat towards his childhood friend. The kid was so sweet that Izuku has no idea how someone can hate him to that degree. This is a mess. Even for someone like Izuku, teenagers have always been somewhat of an enigma. Their emotions are all over the place and they are mostly impulsive so you can’t really predict their next move. But it’s not all bad. This is the time of their life where their potential for growth is limitless. At this time they are taking in everything, absorbing them and learning about life and their own selves.

  


Izuku had seen countless times how a hero-in-training became disillusioned and turned to villainy or vigilantism and how someone from a family of villains became a part of society and lived a normal life free of any crime. Some have also become heroes or police officers. So yes, Izuku is worried about the relationship of Midoriya Izuku and Bakugou Katsuki but not enough that he’ll make it his number one priority. Some things really just needed time for fixing to be a viable option.

  


Izuku went back into his other self’s Hero notes. Analyzing quirks, studying weaknesses, observing habits and formulating plans for capture with everything written in the notebooks overflowing with creativity and real quirk theories to back up the contents is proof that even if Midoriya Izuku had not focused on his physical strength his knack for analyzing, observation and strategy put him above from the rest of his peers.

  


And with Izuku’s own knowledge on quirks and hundreds of year’s worth of experience, the potential Midoriya Izuku unlocked had become a legitimate threat. Izuku was thankful for it since it wasn’t really his strong suit. He was ashamed to admit it but because of his overpowered quirks, Izuku would have always won without much thought. Punch here, done. Jump there, easy. On the brink of death? Oh how he wish.

  


So he needed a new fighting style. He needed to fight smarter and more efficiently. He still didn’t have complete control on his Dragon eyes, especially on the paralysing aspect of his ability. If he wanted to be a hero, he needed to neutralise not kill. And with his other self’s skill set an opportunity for his transition to another way of combat has shown itself and Izuku just needed to make those skill set his own.

  


Izuku sighed. He could’ve just asked for a recommendation from his hero connections but he knew the kid wouldn’t like that. So he really had to do it the hard way.

  


He took a notebook that had ‘Progress Reports’ neatly as the title but then Izuku looked at the clock and realized that it was already time to study the kid’s memories again. He put back the notebooks in its box and went to lie down on the bed.

  


Two hours passed and Izuku stood up and slipped into his All Might hoodie, running pants and his spare red shoes. He looked at the clock that said 3:00 AM and put the usual post it note on his door and went out quietly.

  


While jogging, Izuku noted to himself to watch the new hero videos later and try to list his observations on his notebook and analyze them like his other self always did. And with that he fell into a routine. As he was dragging a big fridge to the truck his mind reviewed his progress report notebook that started filling up these past three months.

 

At the start of the fourth month Izuku decided to fill out his third month report in his neat hand writing.

 

 

* * *

Month One of Ten

 

  * Regeneration is still slow. It took almost two hours to fix a broken arm.



 

  * Training over the Dragon eyes going smoothly.



 

  * Bullying from ‘the Kacchan’ is still present and is still the same if not more aggressive. But aside from that, school has been nicer after the news of the quirk got around. Hypocrisy never fails to amuse me.



 

  * Analyzing quirks like the kid is quite hard. Needs some getting used to.



* * *

 

 

* * *

 

Month Two of Ten

 

  * Broke my spine once from a bad fall and took three hours to fix. But Regeneration on smaller injuries has gotten a bit faster.



 

  * Control on the distance the Dragon eyes can see is easier than predicted. I found out that I can paralyze myself by looking at the mirror. And the damage is doubled which is good training for my regeneration.



 

  * It seems like ‘the Kacchan’ is kind of mellowing down though I still get death glares. It seems that our talk is still on his mind.



 

  * Classmates are still curious about the bandages/blindfolds.



 

  * My inner sunshine boy is shining a little bit brighter each day.



 

  * Took on people watching as a hobby to improve observing skills.’



* * *

 

 

* * *

 

Month Three of Ten

 

  * Cleaning of Dagobah is going smoothly. Formation of muscles already noticeable.



 

  * Cracked my skull a few times and still took hours to heal. Come on quirk work with me.



 

  * Hours of looking at myself at the mirror for quirk training had turned me into a narcissist in Midoriya Inko’s eyes. I sincerely apologize, Midoriya Izuku.



 

  * This time ‘the Kacchan’ is becoming a lot more silent. Not calm silence but boiling anger silence. Haven’t really talk to each other since that time but signs of hate seems to have diminished a bit. Though probing for the reasons why Midoriya Izuku was so hated is not going well.



 

  * The hype from being a late bloomer is slowly getting lesser and rumours about me getting hurt by my quirk made less people talk to me over breaks. Again, hypocrisy.



 

  * Came out as Bi to Inko and Mitsuki. As I thought, Midoriya Izuku’s worry and fear about being hated by everyone is unfounded. Hope you’re seeing everything kid.



 

  * Heard rumours about ‘the Kacchan’ being put into anger management by his mother.



* * *

 

 

* * *

Month Four of Ten

 

  * Trash in Dagoba beach is



* * *

  


 

“Izuku” Inko knocked at his door. Izuku went and opened the door.

 

“Yes Mom?” He smiled at her. She returned it and said.

 

“Nothing, Mitsuki called and said you should come home with Katsuki-kun and have dinner with them tomorrow!” Her tone was excited but for Izuku he just felt dread.

 

_Uh oh I have a bad feeling right now. I hope I’m wrong about this._

  


The Progress report notes after the next day...

 

* * *

 

Month Four of Ten

 

  * ~~Trash in Dagoba beach is~~



  
Fuck I’m not wrong. Shit just got real.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to think of something to write as a transition to the canon events but I was so happy by the comments that I became like an idiot reading the comments over and over again.
> 
> Just like the chapter said this is very normal and boring WAHH but thanks to everyone that read, commented, bookmarked and left kudos :D
> 
> I'll try to make the chapters better when the story is on the canon timeline. AAHHH tell me if you see any mistakes. Sorry again I just felt like Denki where too much happiness fried my brain making me unable to write so yeah *double thumbs up with an adorably stupid face* *with drool* *gross*


	5. The Months Before The Entrance Exam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Bakugou household invites Izuku and things happen. Izuku hates sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mention of rape sorry. It's short but still.
> 
> Edit: Found a lot of mistakes damn. But I fixed it. I hope I got em all
> 
> Edit2: Found more mistakes and fixed them. *wipes forehead*

“Izuku-kuuun!” Good thing Izuku didn’t dodge Mitsuki’s assault by reflex and just let her trap him in a crushing hug.

  
  


“Hi Auntie.” Izuku tapped Mitsuki’s shoulder and thankfully she let go. Katsuki just stood on the side with hands in his pockets and glared on the ground but didn’t say anything.

  
  


“Let’s go inside Izuku-kun.” And once inside he greeted Katsuki’s father, Masaru. They talked for a while with Katsuki still strangely quiet. But if Izuku’s correct then Katsuki’s behaviour is understandable. They ate dinner and had small talk. They also thanked him again for saving their son from the villain. Katsuki looked ready to shout protests but a glare from Mitsuki shut him up.

  
  


After dinner, Mitsuki made the two of them seat across each other with Mitsuki and Masaru standing at the side. Katsuki glared at him like he killed his parents.

  
  


_ Oh boy. _

 

“Izuku-kun did Katsuki tell you about... that?” She had a concerned expression on and Masaru looked at Izuku reassuringly and gave him a nod. Izuku nodded back.

  
  


“If it’s about me not being Mom’s real son then yes he sort of did.” Mitsuki was about to say something but Izuku beat her to it.

  
  


“Me being adopted is not a big deal Auntie please don’t worry about it.” Mitsuki looked at Izuku with a confused expression. One of Izuku’s goals is to mend the relationship between the childhood friends and this is not the way to do it.

  
  


Izuku gave her a reassuring smile. “Being taken in by Mom is the best thing that could have happened to me. I grew up as quirkless and if I wasn’t with Mom and with some other person then at four, I would have been thrown out or sold in the black market or even used by perverts. I’d be lucky if I die at all.” Mitsuki looked shocked.  _ Oops too dark? It’s the truth though. _ Izuku sighed. He was reminded of death again.

  
  


_ Real lucky if I die, staying alive this long is killing me. _ Izuku’s own joke made him want to laugh but he hid it behind a smirk.

  
  


It was a habit of Izuku to say and think about death all the time even long before his memories were sealed. It was a harmless habit and it was like an inside joke that only he understood. But when he heard multiple gasps and saw the wide eyes of Mitsuki and Masaru and the intense glare Katsuki gave him, Izuku was reminded that Midoriya Izuku had a habit as well.

  
  


“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” As usual, Mitsuki was first to react.

  
  


“What did you say?” Izuku was about to start “I–” “Why would you say that?!” But Mitsuki cut him off.

  
  


What should Izuku say? What could he say? Honestly he’s screwed. He can’t lie and say it’s about Kacchan even if he really did trigger something in his other self that made him muddle-headed and suicidal. He can’t say he’s just joking because Midoriya Izuku would just never joke about death so casually. And the way he said it in his head or muttered was really filled with his longing for death. To those who heard him, it really sounded like he wanted to die and his smirk that said he found it humorous just made it worse.

  
  


“Izuku-kun what’s going on with you? Is something wrong? Does Inko know about this?” Of course they’d bring Inko into this. What can he say to them? He’s a bit high? No that may come and bite him in the ass later on especially since he is aiming to be a hero. That also rules out being drunk. So what could he say? Say he’s depressed? No they’d still make a big deal out of it. Bullying? No Katsuki would put on the spot because of that. What else?

 

_ Perverts? _

  
  


Looking back, that was where things turned to shit. Looking back further, Izuku should have made fixing that muttering habit his first priority. Because right now Mitsuki’s mouth was gaping, Masaru looked like he was trying to say something but failing and Katsuki’s face was brimming with shock and anger and the explosions from his palms were getting louder by the second. 

  
  


Finally, a part of the table was blown off but the explosion was nowhere as loud as Katsuki’s deafening shout of “WHAT?! YOU- YOU” His hands were shaking. “YOU’RE SAYING THAT...” The implications of that one word he muttered out, again, and from their discussion before, made the three Bakugou’s jump to conclusions. The result...

  
  


“IZUKU-KUN! DID–” Mitsuki looked scared to ask but she bit her lip and said in a lower voice. “Did something like that...”  _ Oh yeah this is bad.  _ Izuku could see them making a big deal about it, because it is and Izuku is fucking dumb for even considering that as an excuse in the first place. And because all of this wasn’t in his plan for ending their dinner peacefully Izuku, in a rare occurrence, panicked. He didn’t think and just answered not as Midoriya Izuku, the sunshine boy but as Izuku, the two hundred and sixty three year old monster that had seen and experienced all the darkness of society. He smiled and looked at them.

  
  


“It’s fine really. It happened a long time ago.”

  
  


A moment after he said that, Izuku’s eyes went wide and he felt the same feeling of dread he had when his body moved on its own during the sludge accident. And now his mouth talked on its own and blurted something that he would never usually say.

 

_ What is happening to me?! _

 

Izuku was an old monster that had lived for hundreds of years. One of the things he’s proud of is his self control. Moving and talking impulsively was something Izuku never EVER did. But after his fourteen year sleep he did just that two times. TWO. FUCKING. TIMES. This isn’t Izuku. This isn’t him. He’s never lost control of himself this many times in such short intervals. This isn’t a minor issue to Izuku. Fear made its way into his head. Panic of not having control of his being, pierced his soul and spread out to eat him alive.

 

_ ControlMaskPretendCalmControlControlBalanceSane _

 

_ Controlmakesmesane Control makes me less of a monster. MONSTER.      MONSTER.     MONSTER. MONSTER.     MONSTER.        MONSTER.     MONSTER.      MONSTER.          MONSTER.         MONSTER. MONSTER!!          MONSTER!!                 MONSTER!!              MONSTER!!               MONSTER!!   MONSTER!! MONSTER!!!! _

 

_ NOT HUMAN. CAN’T DIE. NO CONTROL. THIS ISN’T ME. KEEP ME SANE. KEEP ME SANE. KILL ME. LET ME DIE. NO. PLEASE. LIVING HURTS. _

  
  


“–ku! Izuku-kun! IZUKU-KUN!” He woke up from the haze in his head and felt something warm surround him. He looked around to see Masaru and Katsuki standing at the side worriedly looking at the floor where Mitsuki tightly hugged a hyperventilating Izuku. At least he didn’t cry. Thank God because he’s too old for crying in front of people.

  
  


The first thing he noticed was how panicked everyone looked.

  
  


“I-I’m fine now *exhale* Auntie you can let go now.” Izuku said as he gently tapped he back. He felt vibrations through it.

  
  


_ Ah. I made her cry. _

 

“N-no.” Mitsuki hugged him tighter.

  
  


“Please? I’m fine really.” She pulled back a little to see his face and he showed her an awkward smile. Appearing calm right now will just make them worry more.

  
  


Eventually she let go, helped up by her husband whose hands were slightly shaky and eyes a bit watery. When he turned to Katsuki he looked away refusing to meet his eyes. He was gritting his teeth, his knuckles were white, and body visibly shaky with his face red, either from anger or something else that Izuku didn’t know.

  
  


After a while they found themselves at the living room sitting on the couch. The Bakugou’s sat on the same side while Izuku sat from across the coffee table. The laughter from the television contrasted to the tense atmosphere between them. Izuku’s undershirt was soaked from sweat and thankfully they gave him one of Katsuki’s black shirt that had the words ‘DIE’ in red print. It was a bit big on him but not too much, just enough to make Izuku think  _ ‘Ooohh, boyfriend shirt.’  _ light-heartedly. Also, the irony of him wearing that shirt was not lost but just ignored for now. However, Izuku is definitely buying shirts like these in the future.

  
  


And now back to reality. Izuku fucked up, was screwed and in deep shit. Mitsuki looked ready to cry. Masaru was busy calming her down though he wasn’t really persuasive by how he turned to look sadly at Izuku every now and then. Katsuki wasn’t letting him see his face. He was looking at the clenched fists on his lap, his foot tapping the floor.

  
  


“Um– Okay please don’t get upset.” 

 

_ Shiiit. Me and my damn mouth. _

  
  


“And please don’t tell Mom. I’ll answer anything you ask just please...” Izuku looked down, internally breaking his own neck at his stupidity. 

  
  


_ Look at what you did to these kids you dumb geezer. _

  
  


Mitsuki looked at him but she still seemed a bit shaken. 

  
  


_ Well damn, they saw you have a panic attack and you know it’s worse than that. You nearly went into an insanity fit. Last time you had one? You remember killing all the villains hanging around at the time? No? Well, you nearly had a repeat of that dumb shit you’re old act your age you fucking brainless old man. _

  
  


“Breathe okay? It’s not your fault, its fine.” Izuku smiled at them. Izuku wasn’t good at this manipulation thing this was more of All-for-One’s specialty. Mitsuki choked a sob and Masaru hid his face behind his hand. He heard a growl from Katsuki, his nails digging on his knuckles and his shoulders had a faint tremble.

  
  


Mitsuki looked at him and wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “I-Izuku-kun when di-did, when did it happen?”

  
  


Izuku really thought about it because “It’s been so long so I don’t really remember.” Back when he just didn’t give a fuck he got drugged and raped. He didn’t really remember. “I just woke up alone and feeling kind of sore.” Though what he saw were small marks due to his regeneration healing most of them before he even woke up.

  
  


“Wha– How old were you then?” Masaru asked as he comforted her wife by holding her hand tight.

 

“I don’t really remember just that I was young then.” A hundred-fifty-something is still pretty young.

  
  


Mitsuki’s sad eyes looked at his golden ones. “Why didn’t you tell anyone? Didn’t anyone– Inko, how?” It looked like it hurt her to think that Inko didn’t notice something that horrible happening to her son.

  
  


Izuku shook his head. This didn’t happen to Midoriya Izuku but to him, the monster. But now he would have to make it a part of the kid’s past. Taint his memories with Izuku’s filthy and terrifying experiences. He searched the kid’s memories where he could insert this lie.

  
  


“It was during a field trip I don’t really remember where or when.”  _ Don’t give anything specific. Katsuki would think of something.  _ “I got lost for a long time. I looked fine just with some bruises. The teachers thought I was being careless and trip or something. I think I smelled bad at the time but no one really took it seriously they just teased me for it. I was mostly healed when we get back and at that age bruises were the norm for me and my Mom. This isn’t her fault.” Izuku looked down. He just let them take in the information.

  
  


After a minute of silence he looked up see Katsuki with wide eyes and face was contorted like it was in pain. It looked like he was remembering something. Then realization dawned on his face. His expression quickly changed into one of extreme anger. He stood up with explosions in his hands.

  
  


“YOU–YOU FUCKING. WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYHTING HUH?! YOU DUMB SHIT! SOMEONE–FUCK!!! YOU JUST LET SOMEONE DO THAT TO YOU AND LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT?!”

 

*SLAP!*

“KATSUKI! I DIDN’T RAISE YOU TO BE AN INSENSITIVE DOUCHEBAG!” Tears rolled down her face. “IZUKU-KUN DIDN’T– NO ONE WOULD LET THAT HAPPEN TO THEM KATSUKI.” Mitsuki sat down seemingly exhausted.

  
  


_ Damn this is not going well. I suck at improv. That’s why I plan like a crazy guy.  _ Izuku didn’t like where this was going. He needed to do something.

  
  


“It’s fine Auntie. I’ve been seeing a therapist since then just secretly.” Izuku knows a therapist who is a part time vigilante. He went to his sessions before so he’s technically not lying. Mitsuki was about to say something else but Izuku continued.

  
  


“What happened to me was wrong. People not noticing weren’t alright. Me not telling anyone was no good either. I know that the best. And I learned from that. Do I get nightmares? Sometimes.”  _ Lie. I don’t sleep. Daydream maybe?  _ “But that was all in the past. It’s my past and my issues Auntie. I know you care and worry for me but I’ve already had helped. I helped myself.” Mitsuki was tearing up again.

  
  


“I’m sorry if this is gonna sound harsh but this is my business. It’s been years since then.”  _ A hundred.  _ “And I don’t really let it bother me anymore. It’s been hard but I’m finally okay. Not great. Not perfect.”  _ Never perfect.  _ “But okay. I know you mean well but this.” Izuku motions around them. “Is just bringing me back to not okay. Don’t pity me. Don’t treat me like I’ll break.”  _ Because I’m already broken. _

  
  


The unsaid seemed to be heard by Katsuki since something flashed in his eyes. Izuku feels bad for making Katsuki feel like that for him. Not for Midoriya Izuku, his former childhood friend but him, a stranger and a monster. He continued.

  
  


“I didn’t mean to tell you all this, I’m sorry.”  _ Sorry.  _ “But I’ll ask you to never tell anyone especially my Mom. If you do...” Izuku looked at them, the endless sadness of an immortal life he’s learned to live with and endure. But these three doesn’t know that sadness. And just seeing a fragment of it in the teens eyes rendered them speechless.

  
  


“If you do, you just might be the reasons why I finally take my life.” He flashed a smile. The same one he showed Katsuki during their talk. The one he had when he thought of the past, all the people he loved and that loved him, their moments of death and how he can never follow them. 

 

The three gasped. Mitsuki was sobbing into Masaru’s shoulder whose tears were rolling down his eyes. Katsuki bit his lip until it bled and nails dig into his palms drawing blood. His eyes were straining. He was this close to crying be he stopped it. His body was shaking. He looked away.

  
  


It’s low. It’s was really really horrible of Izuku. His blunder put him in this situation but they were the ones suffering for it.

 

_ I really am sorry. This is my fault but I can’t think of anything else. _

  
  


The three were tense. It took a while for them to get their bearings. Izuku waited patiently while chanting apologies in his head. This was his fault after all. Masaru was first to speak. His eyes were strong. It held his stare and looked at Izuku.

  
  


“Izuku-kun, we swear to never tell this to anyone. Just– just please keep being better okay?” His voice cracked a little at the end but Izuku pretended not to notice and just smiled genuinely at him and nodded.

  
  


“Yes Uncle. You can trust me on that.” Mitsuki held his hand over the table. Her grip was strong like she was trying to ground him.

 

_ That’s good of her.  _ Izuku thought fondly.

  
  


“Please if you need anything. Need someone to talk to. Please come to us.” Izuku nodded. Mitsuki continued. “And promise me, please, that someday you’ll tell Inko the truth.”  _ The truth that his real son died and was replaced with a monster? No. That won’t be necessary. _

  
  


“Yes Auntie.”  _ A little lie. I’m sorry. _

  
  


Until the end Katsuki never said anything. Never looked at him but he was with Mitsuki and Masaru as they went with Izuku on his way to his house. They were in front of the building. The Bakugou’s were still very much shaken. But Mitsuki and Masaru held his hands and Katsuki was looking around warily like an enemy was gonna jump out of the corner.

  
  


“Izuku-kun, please remember what we said okay?” Masaru patted him on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him. Mitsuki held him close hugging him like she never wanted to let him go. Katsuki just glared at him. But not with burning hatred but with something Izuku really didn’t know and he just walked away. Mitsuki and Masaru followed shortly after seeing Izuku go inside the building.

  
  


When he went back, he had a chat with Inko, just random things while making their quota of blindfolds for the night. Inko didn’t notice anything off, or at least he hoped. He’d always heard about the myth of mothers knowing everything about their children. But Izuku felt safe. Midoriya Izuku was her son not him. He didn’t have the right to that privilege.

  
  


After that he went inside and went right into his memory reviewing. He woke up after two hours and went into his ‘Progress Report’ notebook. He wasn’t aware of what he was writing but he just crossed out the report he was writing yesterday and wrote whatever this day felt like to him in the shortest way possible. He didn’t get to check it because after that he put up a post it note, went out and continued his training with added fervour.

  
  


_ I just need to do something better to make them forget tonight, something amazing and awe-inspiring. Being the best hero is the obvious choice but that’s still far into the future.  _

 

 

Izuku didn’t need to think long. His answer was just seven months away.

 

_ Get fist place and break records during the entrance exam. Easy. _

  
  


After that training and life continued, each day getting closer to Izuku’s first short-term goal both as Midoriya Izuku and Izuku, the immortal monster.

  
  


* * *

Month Four of Ten

 

~~ Trash in Dagoba beach is ~~

 

Fuck I’m not wrong. Shit just got real.

 

  * Trash in Dagoba beach is getting lesser, about ten percent cleaned



 

  * Broken limbs now only takes thirty minutes. Spine still over an hour and skull is still slow.



 

  * Kacchan would now avoid me like a plague but hearing about his continued anger management is nice.



 

  * The hype is officially down and people now act normal around me, some still curious and some tried some bullying but nothing I can’t handle.



 

  * I started carrying a pocket mirror to train at school but only during breaks where people can’t see me like the roof or comfort rooms. Inko bought it together with a make-up kit. I never learned it but I’ll try adding it on my weekend schedule of baking and studying.



* * *

  
  


* * *

Month Five of Ten

 

  * Dagobah is getting cleaner bit by bit.



 

  * A finger was cut by a sharp metal but was able to stick in after a few minutes. How would it be for my arm or leg with my weakened regeneration?



 

  * Kacchan got a lot bigger and buffer. Looks like he's training too. And he’s also gone a BIT quieter. His ego is still there though. And he treats everyone like a threat. Hope the talk didn’t take his trust against the traitorous humanity.



 

  * Make-up lessons with Inko are fun.



 

  * Things are finally normal in school people don’t treat me special anymore.



 

  * Hero analysis is still a bit hard but I’m getting there



* * *

  
  


* * *

Month Six of Ten

 

  * Dagobah is about fifty percent clean.



 

  * An arm reattaches after two hours and my head took about six hours. Almost got late. Good thing I started at midnight that day.



 

  * Control at distance better. Self paralysis is a really good training. I’m starting on paralysing individual parts like arms and legs.



 

  * People noticed my change in physique. Some of our classmates tried to hug or tackle me from behind as a joke but Kacchan broke his nose he was growling under his breath something about boundaries and what not. People were shook. A word I took from the young people, kind of dumb but fun to use.



 

  * People watching really helps my analysis training. I do it in libraries, parks and school.



 

  * Mom’s make-up lessons are better than YouTube really.



 

I called her Mom here damn.

* * *

  
  


* * *

Month Seven of Ten

 

  * Dagobah sixty-five percent done.



 

  * Regeneration is really picking up speed. Though my head still needs six hours damn.



 

  * Fine tuning control on isolated paralysis but I finally have control on the distance I see!



 

  * Mom told me I'm getting better at make-up. Don't see it though I need more practice later. Baking is hard but I like it!



 

  * Hero analysis training going well not as good as the kid but a lot better than when I started.



 

  * Nothing noteworthy for Kacchan but wow he’s still kind of a jerk after all those sessions it’s kind of amazing.



 

  * School events sucks ass. Though I need to participate. Mom’s filming everything. Kid I'm sorry for experiencing this instead of you but I am having fun, kind of. I'm sorry.



* * *

  
  


* * *

Month Eight of Ten

 

  * Dagobah at eighty-seven percent.



 

  * Getting better at isolating parts of the body after the month full mastery is expected.



 

  * Head attaches after three hours yay.



 

  * Hero analysis is really getting kind of fun as well as people watching.



 

  * I heard Kacchan punched his therapist after he tried harassing him. Sent the pervert to the hospital. It's just rumours though.



 

  * Mom is trying to convince me to sell the goods. My baking goods of course.



* * *

  
  


* * *

Month Nine of Ten

 

  * Dagobah is closer to being perfectly clean than ever.



 

  * Isolating parts completed and mastered now onto the heart. Let’s try and stop it from beating.



 

  * Regeneration is still slow compared to before bit definitely faster than when training started. Only two hours for regenerating my head.



 

  * Hero analysis training going smoothly. People watching is granting obvious results.



 

  * Mom is urging me to wear make-up outside. Not ready for that yet.



 

  * Kacchan didn’t get a new therapist sad.



* * *

 

* * *

Month Ten of Ten

  * DAGOBAH IS CLEAN!!!



 

Shit now I'm so excited. This is now my rest month. I'll try sleeping for the first time in a hundred years!

  
  
  
Now I remember what nightmares are like. I'm never sleeping ever again. It’s just too much.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah sorry for the slow (?) update. I mean it’s not that slow but I posted this fic thinking that I still have weeks of free time to post almost daily but real life had other plans and yeaaahhh. The first half was what I wrote the day after I posted ch4 but I was too stressed (depressed, busy hating at life. The normal stuff) that day that I wasn’t able finish it so if the first half seems rushed I’m sorry. I fixed some of the grammatically incorrect statements but I didn’t change the flow because that was the embodiment of my ‘umph’ (despair) and I’d like to respect the ‘me’ of that day.
> 
>  
> 
> If you see some mistakes on the rest of the fic, that’s just me being human lol. I’ll look over it more times after posting but if I missed any please tell me.
> 
>  
> 
> Enough about me, how are you guys? Did you like it? Hate it? Want to flush the fic down the toilet? Please tell me. I mean, I dug myself a hole when I ended the last chap with that ‘shit just got real’ and had to think of what that shit that became real is. Hope it passes. I so badly want to jump to the entrance exam but my morals say to lay down the foundation first before building the hut (what kind of saying is this?! *crying*). 
> 
>  
> 
> So yeah. I managed to finish this because I past denying my problems in one day yay me! And I kind of accepted that life gave me lemons and massaged my eyes with it, clogged my nose and shoved it down my throat ew. Anyway life goes on. Pray for me and as always thank you for reading, commenting bookmarking, subscribing and leaving kudos!
> 
>  
> 
> I ranted on a note omg sorry. See you next update! (maybe a few days. A week max.) :D


	6. Sunshine and Shadows part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku meets a new friend and Izuku sleeps. It's chaos really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning.
> 
> Please read with caution. I may be overreacting but still.
> 
> Please enjoy! :D

_ Fuck yes, clean at last.  _ Izuku thought as he looked over the fruit of his hard work. His blindfold had been pushed up to cover his forehead and his soaked shirt was lying on the sandy ground by his feet.

  
  


It was just the end of the first week of the tenth month and the entrance exam is just a few days away. And all of his trainings were going well. Bruises and small cuts heal instantly. Broken bones heal a bit faster than before. The type of bones broken and the severity of the injury affect the time of regeneration but it doesn’t take more than an hour now. Time for reattaching parts of the body also varies. Head and torso takes the longest with a little over two hours. Fingers, toes, arms, and legs reattaches within an hour. It’s really nowhere as strong as before where his head reattaches just seconds after decapitation.

  
  


His quirk analysis is really coming around. Although Izuku thinks that Midoriya Izuku’s talent for analysis was just that immense. Because unlike Izuku, who didn’t have to worry about losing and dying, the kid seemingly had nothing but his love for heroes and great desire to be one. His obsession on quirks trained his eyes to be able to see a quirk’s strengths and possible weaknesses and trained his mind to be able to process this information in a short amount of time.

  
  


And people watching helped him bridge the gap between himself and Midoriya Izuku in terms of their skill of observation. Although even if Izuku was training to be able to use the kid’s skill, it doesn’t mean that if he didn’t do anything then he wouldn’t be able to use any of Midoriya Izuku’s skill. He still can, but he can’t use it effectively. Like how a sword master can still use a gun to defend himself, injure or kill but he can’t use it as effectively as when someone who had years of using the it holds a gun himself. The sword master needs to improve his marksmanship to improve his gun-wielding and Izuku needs to improve his observations to improve his use of the kid’s quirk analysis.

  
  


From all of Izuku’s trainings, his Dragon eyes have improved the most. He can easily see the moon from where he stood. His kinetic vision let’s him be able to see a mosquito fly around and catch it with ease. If he concentrates enough he can see the world in slow motion. Not that slow that it feels like time itself has slowed down but enough to see multiple movements at once without missing even the subtlest action and see extremely fast motions in normal speed. And best of all is that he can control his paralysis without killing anyone accidentally. Stopping hearts was really easy and one the things that contributed a lot to Izuku’s regeneration training. Although now, what he needs is practice in is paralyzing moving targets.

  
  


He needs to be careful right now and in the future since he didn’t know what All-for-One was planning. But Izuku was sure that the brat would be watching the next generation of heroes which Izuku would be a part of. He can show his regeneration to everyone but letting them see him healing from a fatal wound is of high risk. Since if what Toshinori told him was true, then All-for-One is not physically one hundred percent right now. He might then take an interest in Izuku’s regeneration and try to steal it and it’s only a matter of time after that before he finds out that an old monster was playing at being human. Or worse he sees Izuku die and revive, he would immediately connect him to the missing suicidal immortal. That’s why he really needed to be careful not to let any cameras catch him healing from a serious injury or God forbid, die and be caught on video. 

  
  


Those two scenarios would be considered the worst cases and Izuku would be damned if he just let that happen. And that’s where his physical training comes in. It might not have the best results but it had the most noticeable ones. Hours of physical training everyday for ten months made him more physically fit and gain muscle mass. Not All Might muscles but lean, toned and hard muscles. His training plan was made with focus on speed and not on strength. To prevent the worst case scenarios from happening he needed to master evasion. It’s good that he can see movements slowly but if his body was too slow to react then his eyes were useless. His physical condition right now just barely passes Izuku’s standards but that’s the best he could do considering all the other things he had to handle.

  
  


The strong sea breeze hit Izuku in the face. It felt good and seeing that no trash was in sight was an added bonus. This place really was beautiful, it’s sad that no one took care of it and just let the place rot. The civilians relied heavily on heroes plus with the ban of using quirks without a licence, it made cleaning a dump like what Dagobah once was, a waste of time. Heroes didn’t care to pay attention to things like this because apparently helping the environment wasn’t the favourite thing people liked to watch and a cleaning hero just wouldn’t sell well.

  
  


It’s their loss. Though it’s likely that the credit would go to the heroes, Izuku didn’t care.  _ I’m the first person to ever see this view and that’s enough. _ He was smiling to his self at this thought while feeling the refreshing breeze when his loosely tied blindfold was blown away by the annoying wind. Izuku looked at it for a second before starting in a sprint.

  
  


_ Shit! That’s the first one I ever made! _

  
  


Izuku used his eyes to not lose sight of it. He followed it quickly to the sidewalk where a purple-bluish haired kid was jogging. It was coming the kid’s way.

  


“THAT BLINDFOLD! GET THAT BLINDFOLD!” The kid turned around at this looking a bit surprised. His heavy eyes surrounded by eye bags widening slightly.

  
  


“Wha-” He just stood there while Izuku came closer. He saw the kid’s eyes roam over his running figure. Izuku remembered that he’s currently shirtless and sweaty right now. He must’ve looked like a pervert shouting for kinky blindfolds. Shit.

  


But Izuku really didn’t want to lose a blindfold so he ignored his current state and shouted.

  
  


“Hey! Stop gawking! It’s over your head, quick get it!” That seemed to wake up the boy. Even though he turned red right after, he managed to get the blindfold flying his way.

\--

  


“Hey thanks.” The green haired kid slowed down when he got closer to Hitoshi.

  


“Um- yeah. Here.” Histoshi awkwardly handed the blindfold to the kid. The comment earlier about him ‘gawking’ at the boy still left him embarrassed. He tried not looking at the sweaty and ripped form in front of him who put the blindfold tightly over his forehead.

  
  


“Again thanks. Sorry about shouting earlier.” The kid made an awkward laugh. Hitoshi tried not to look at the body in front of him so he focused on his face and made an effort to only look at his eyes. Oh yeah, big mistake.

  
  


It felt like he was floating and falling at the same time. He felt relaxed and safe. However the slits of his eyes and tattoos on his cheeks carried a certain danger that made Hitoshi’s heart rate pick up. His eyes were inviting, sucking him in it, mysterious, foreign and out of this world.

  
  


“-o? -llo? Hello?” When he came to, the kid was close. He was waving his hand in front of him and Hitoshi may have made a sound he swore in his heart he never made and moved back. The suddenness of this action made him lose balance and fall on the ground. Or so he thought.

  
  


“You okay?” He felt strong arms tight around his waist and when he opened his eyes he was face to face with the kid that had a concerned look, eyes tender and soft and Hitoshi has never had that look directed at him in all his life. Maybe his parents looked at him like that at some point before his quirk manifested but he didn’t really remember and he doesn’t care. He’s also sure that this kid would also look at him with fear and suspicion when he learns about Hitoshi’s quirk.

  
  


_ He’s only looking at you like that now because he still doesn’t know your quirk, stop getting your hopes up. You still need to prove everyone wrong and that you are not a future villain. _

  
  


Apparently he liked to become inattentive with the kid’s presence and he had to ask Hitoshi again.

  


“You okay? Does anything hurt?” Hitoshi quickly got out of the warm hold and stood straight facing the boy. He then said in a cold voice an “I’m fine.” while looking at the kid’s blindfold.

  
  


The kid must have noticed this and his face turned red as he took a step back from Histoshi.

  


“I’m sorry. I must’ve smelled. I was just uh- cleaning the beach so yeah.” The kid scratched his nape.

  
  


Hitoshi widened his eyes. “No! You...”  _ smell great.  _ “Don’t smell that bad.” Hitoshi was still rational, good, awkward but still good.

  


The kid looked relieved. Hitoshi also sighed.  _ What is happening to me right now? ... Wait he said something about cleaning the beach? _

  
  


“You!” Hitoshi said in his shock. “You’re the Midnight Cleaner of Dagobah!” The kid looked puzzled.

  
  


“No I’m not. I’m Midoriya Izuku. What’s your name?” Midoriya tilted his head slightly as he asked with a small smile.

  


_ That. Face. Hurts. Me. _

  
  


“That’s – that’s not what I meant by–“ Hitoshi admitted defeat. “I’m Shinsou Hitoshi” He looked away from that bright smile.

  
  


“Hello Shinsou.” He heard Midoriya chuckle so he looked back. “That’s what people call me huh. Sounds like a local criminal. What do people say about me? Hope it isn’t anything weird because I will cry.”

  
  


Hitoshi managed to answer him by looking strictly at the blindfold on his forehead.  _ Be cool. Calm down he’s not that hot. No. Not. That. Hot.  _ Hitoshi’s eyes strayed to the slight ‘v’ forming on his waist.

  


_ Damn. Chill. Chill. CHILL.  _ Hitoshi flashed his poker face and shrugged.

  
  


“It’s nothing weird just someone with lots of free time advocating a clean environment. I didn’t expect it to be a topless and sweaty kid chasing after blindfolds.” Hitoshi smirked at this. Especially when he saw Midoriya gaped at him.

  
  


“Oh my God no, this isn’t– I’m not– I’m not normally–”

  
  


“Naked? Sweaty? Panting? Shouting at strangers to ‘get that blindfold’?” His smirk turned into a full blown grin looking at the panicking boy in front of him.  _ Cute. How can he be hot and this cute at the same time? _

  
  


“No.” Midoriya covered his face. “I hate people thinking that I’m a pervert. I left my shirt on the beach. I don’t go around chasing blindfolds without a shirt on!” The distressed expression on the kid that made him lose his breath just a minute ago made Hitoshi want to laugh. So he did.

  
  


“You look like a kicked puppy!” Hitoshi laughed and Midoriya raised a brow at this. “You think a kicked puppy is funny?”

  


That stopped Hitoshi’s laugh for a second. He shook his head with a small smile. “No, but a body like that with an expression like that...” He stifled a laugh. “The gap is unexpected.”

  
  


Hitoshi expected to see a panicking kid but then what he saw was Midoriya with a lopsided smile.

  
  


_ That’s. Not. Hot. _

  


“I knew you were staring.” Hitoshi spluttered. “Wha- NO!” He cleared his throat. “I mean, so what?”

  


Midoriya shook his head and unconsciously dragged his tongue to wet his dry lips. It was a done in a second but to Hitoshi it was like in slow motion. He gulped. Midoriya smiled sweetly. “Nothing. Just that it’s nice when people appreciate.” Hitoshi’s face felt hot.

  
  


_ I need to go. Now. _

  
  


“Why were you cleaning the beach anyway?”  _ Damn me.  _

  
  


“Oh. I was training.” Hitoshi raised a brow. “For what?” Midoriya smiled at him. “U.A”

  
  


“Oh.”  _ Oh, an aspiring hero. That means I really need to go. I’m sure he doesn’t want associating with someone that has a ‘villain’s quirk’. _

  


“Yeah. Because my quirk’s not that flashy and doesn’t really help me physically.” He pointed at his eyes.

  


“It’s beautiful though.” Hitoshi couldn’t help himself.

  
  


“Thanks.” Midoriya gave him a modest smile. “What’s your quirk by the way? If you don’t mind me asking of course.”

  
  


_ This is my chance. Say it then walk away. Go on. Say it. _

  


“I... I have a...” Hitoshi trailed off. Midoriya patted him on the shoulder.  _ When did he get this close?  _ “It’s fine if you don’t tell me I was just curious.” He smiled.

  
  


_ Ugh. Let’s just get this over with. He’ll go away after learning what my quirk is anyway. _

  
  


“Mind Control. It’s called Brainwash.” Hitoshi said while looking away. He’s seen enough to know the shift of expression on the kid’s face.

  
  


“Oh” He heard Midoriya say.  _ Oh indeed. _

  
  


He started to turn and walk away but he heard Midoriya exclaim. “That’s so cool! So, like, what’re the conditions for it to work? What are the limitations? Do you want to be a hero? Oh but it’s also perfect for therapy. Like hypnotic therapy. That’s also useful for interrogations. Also perfect for catching villains. Hey Shinsou can I make a suggestion? Go to either psychology or heroics it’s both perfect for you!” Midoriya’s face lit up with excitement.

  
  


_ What is happening?  _ “What?” Hitoshi can’t think straight right now. Midoriya knitted his brows.

  


“Are you alright Shinsou?”  _ Am I alright?  _ “Are you? I just told you what my quirk is. And you think it’s perfect for heroics?” Hitoshi can’t process what’s happening right now.

  
  


“And psychology. I’m not forcing you okay. It’s just that it’s a waste with a quirk like tha–”

  


“A quirk like this!” Hitoshi paused. “A quirk like this is perfect for being a villain. Not for heroics and certainly not for anything helpful.” Hitoshi lowered his gaze and clenched his fists. No one would say that his quirk is perfect for heroics. This must’ve been some kind of prank.

  
  


_ Fuck this. _

  
  


“You don’t believe that.” Hitoshi looked up to see Midoriya’s serious and calculating expression. It felt like he was being studied. Every part of him, exposed. “Wha-” “You don’t think that. Did other people say that to you? That you have a villain’s quirk?”

  
  


“You–” The look Midoriya gave him made Hitoshi shut up.

  
  


“That was a rhetorical question. There is no quirk that is strictly meant to be something. My eyes,” Hitoshi saw it momentarily glow. “Can paralyze anyone who looks directly at it. I can even stop hearts from functioning.” Hitoshi felt a pull from those eyes again. But Midoriya’s voice grounded him to reality.

  
  


“I can easily kill with one look but I don’t. People say you have a villain’s quirk. But Shinsou...” Midoriya mouth turned into a small smile. It wasn’t bright but it was something Shinsou hadn’t seen before. It was genuine. “Do you really think you can be a villain?”

  
  


It felt like a wall in his heart was torn down. Years upon years of piled up frustration and hate on everyone who only saw him as a villain collapsed over itself and made its way out of Hitoshi’s lips. Because no one has ever asked him this before, no one gave him a choice.

  
  


With trembling fists at his sides and blurry eyes he answered in a small and shaky voice. “I– I don’t.”

  


“I can’t hear you.” Came Midoriya’s gentle voice.

  
  


“I...” Hitoshi sniffled. “I’m not a villain! Fuck everyone! I don– don’t want to be a villain! Why are you all so scared! I didn’t do a-anything wrong!” His voice cracked at the middle and the end but he didn’t care. It felt like a heavy weight was currently being lifted off him. Then he felt something warm on his cheeks. He didn’t realize that he was crying.

  
  


He looked up to see Midoriya looking at him with a nostalgic look in his eyes. He didn’t know why but he wasn’t able to dwell on it much because Midoriya started speaking.

  
  


“You don’t want to be a villain. Then what do you want to be?”

  
  


_ What do I want to be?  _ It was also the first time he was asked that question and Hitoshi was about to cry again.

  


_ No one bothered to ask before so why is this happening now?  _ But even though he wasn’t prepared for the question Hitoshi answered without thinking. “A hero. I want to be a hero.” He hesitated a bit but then finally asked in an insecure voice that Hitoshi’s never heard from himself before.

  
  


“Can– can I be a hero?” 

  


_ ‘Don’t use your quirk on us okay?’ _

  


_ ‘Why are you talking to him? Aren’t you scared he’ll control you?’ _

  


_ ‘His quirk is scary.’ _

  


_ ‘Maybe we’ve been controlled and we just don’t know it.’ _

  


_ ‘He gives off some kind of villain vibe right?’ _

  


Unconsciously, Hitoshi closed his eyes. Too used to being called a villain that he wasn’t expecting the boy’s response, certain and serious. “Of course you can.” No mocking. No lies just a simple “You can become a hero” and Hitoshi heard a sound from his throat that can’t anything other than a sob.

  
  


Then he found himself pressed against the kid’s shoulder and a warm hand patting his hair. Even though he’s the taller of the two he couldn’t help but cry even harder.

  
  


_ He said something earlier that his quirk can stop hearts. Is that the reason why mine’s beating so hard right now? _

  
  


Hitoshi always considered himself as asexual. But here was so damn attracted to someone he just met. He looked to his side to see Midoriya’s eyes. The feeling of falling was there again but when he looked away and buried his face on Midoriya’s shoulder, the feeling of falling just got stronger.

  


He accidentally sniffed Midoriya’s scent while he was on his shoulder, then he remembered how safe he made Hitoshi feel. For a moment he considers of this is more than just attraction but he just puts it aside for now since there’s another thought occupying his head right now.

  


_ Damn it, he is hot. _

\--

  


“I’m sorry for crying like that.” Hitoshi stepped back with a red face. Izuku laughed happily.

  


“It’s fine to cry you know.”  _ You’re still a kid after all. Cry and cry and then cry some more. That’s one of the perks of being a human.  _ “Are you okay now?” Izuku asked the kid because he just kept looking at the ground.

  
  


“Shinsou?” Izuku tilted his head. The forty five degree tilt with a little frown and slightly knitted brows. It’s the only manipulative move he knew. An old friend once told him to use it if Izuku wanted any of his questions answered. He used that move to All-for-One before but that just got his head blown off.

  
  


But it seemed like this move was effective to Hitoshi. Because when he looked up and saw his face winced a bit in something that looked like pain. The reddening of his face just added to his findings.

  
  


The head tilt really was a powerful move.

  
  


Hitoshi spluttered a bit before he answered. “I’m fine but...” He looked at Izuku’s eyes. “Why would you go so far for a stranger?”

  
  


Izuku didn’t understand the question. “Heroes always meddle with a stranger’s problems right?” He flashed a Midoriya Izuku smile aka sunshine cannon at Hitoshi. And he just stood there for a second, just staring at Izuku. Another moment he fell on his knee and looked up at Izuku, the immortal’s eyes widened at this.

  


“Will you...” Something flashed in the sleepy kid’s eyes. Then his kneel turned into a full dogeza. “Wi– will you take me in as your student se–sensei!” He noticed Hitoshi smack his forehead on the ground a little harder than it should’ve been but that wasn’t Izuku’s focus right now.

  
  


“What?” Izuku was about to say something else when Hitoshi quickly stood up with a very flushed face and said. “It’s fine! I understand! I won’t ask that anymore. Let’s just forget about it okay?!” Hitoshi looked desperate. Izuku thought about it.

  
  


“It’s fine. I can teach you what I know.” Hitoshi sighed. “Okay well, let’s just put this behind–” Hitoshi looked stunned for a moment, then. “WHAAAT!!!”

  
  


After a while people were starting to walk the streets and they looked scandalized at Izuku’s existence. He tried hard not to be offended for Midoriya Izuku. Hitoshi also needed to go back to his Uncle’s house and go to school. They exchanged contact information and added each other in their social media accounts. They decided to start formal training after the entrance exam and said their goodbyes. All throughout their conversation Hitoshi didn’t look like he was really there. He would space out from time to time and just nod at the things Izuku said. He said that he was just tired and went on his way.

  
  


Izuku on the other hand went back to the beach and found his shirt. He went home right after and walked to school feeling fulfilled. When he first talked to Hitoshi there was a very faint scent of death over him. It wasn’t as heavy as it had been with Toshinori when he was still a first year high school student but it was still there. Hate, hate-fuelled determination. And that is the one thing Izuku couldn’t not get involved with. He gritted his teeth when he remembered something from the past but as always he just brushed it off.

  
  


Izuku was in his room updating his ‘Progress Report’. He was done eating with Mom and after that they started learning knitting over YouTube for two hours. 

  
  


Now he was just done writing about Dagobah and he was a bit excited because he was done at last! This feeling of fulfilment was foreign to Izuku so he judged it to be Midoriya Izuku’s feelings inside of him. But still the kid had a strong influence on him so he let himself celebrate a little. After writing a bit more on his notebook he went to lay down the bed. He was gonna sleep.

  
  


_ How does sleep feel like again?  _ Izuku just shrugged. There’s only one way to find out.

~~~

  


He was in a dessert, nothing but sand around. Izuku looked everywhere but he found nothing.

  


“Hello?!”  _ Shit where am I?  _ Izuku felt weird. How did he get here? Where was everyone else?

  
  


He just kept walking. Being starved and dehydrated didn’t kill him. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel uncomfortable. He wasn’t able to count how many days, months, years, or decades he’d been walking. Everything felt endless.

  
  


_ Where was I going? Who were I looking for? Who am I? _

  
  


He was still looking around when everything became dark. He looked up and saw a very big rock falling from the sky.

  


“A meteo–” A deafening sound followed after that.

  
  


It killed him. It destroyed the earth and everything in it. He died but he was revived soon after. He saw the debris made by the blue planet floating as space rocks right in front of him. He was now floating in space with no control of where he was going. But that wasn’t his main concern at the moment. He was dying again. He couldn’t breathe. His lungs feel like it’s going to explode. His eyes were popping out of his sockets. He was dying. Whoever he was, he was dying again. And everything blacks out.

  
  


He wakes up in the dark space again. He tried to take in air but he just gagged at nothing. It hurt. It was quicker this time but he was sure he was dying again. And so it happened again. 

  
  


_ And again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! And again! _

  


_ He kept dying in space and IT HURT!!! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!  _

  
  


_ Why can’t I die?! Why do I keep dying?! Why am I in space?! Why can’t I die?! _

  
  


He just kept floating until he felt something unbearably hot behind him. He tried to look around and his eyes were burned with a searing pain.

  
  


_ The sun! I’m heading towards the sun! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! What is this?! It’s getting hotter oh God oh God I’m gonna get burned I’m gonna get burned gotta get away get away. It’s hot! Too hot! It buuuurns! _

  
  


He tried. He really tried to get away but the sun’s pull was too strong. In the end he got pulled and was burned instantly. But then he woke up again and got burnt to crisp again and again. The heat was scorching. Incomparable to anything he’s felt before. His skin, muscles and bones turned to ashes one moment then regenerates only to be destroyed again and again. It was a cycle he had no way of escaping from.

  
  


After something like a million years, he didn’t fight it. He just felt burning again and again with no end with dead eyes. He just has to wait. Everything will pass. Everything will. Another million passes. Then a billion, he isn’t sure but by now he just feels numb. He keeps his eyes closed. He doesn’t even try to breathe anymore. He just lays there. Like a light bulb coming on and off. Living then dying, again and again.

  
  


He waits and waits and he feels the heat decrease after a couple of billion years. He lives and dies and he just waits. He waits until the sun dies. The sun died and he was still alive. He came back to floating aimlessly in space again. He looks around and everything is dark. There is nothing here but him. Everything was gone but him. He looks around desperately.

  
  


_ Anything, anyone please save me I can’t, no I can’t please kill me. PLEASE!!!! I BEG YOU!!! I CAN’T ANYMORE!!!! _

  
  


Izuku opens his mouth to scream but nothing comes out.  _ Ah that’s right, you can’t scream in space. _ Izuku just looks at nothing as he floated in space, nothing but pure unadulterated horror paints his face. He was alone and he was never going to die. EVER.

  
  


He wakes up feeling numb. He can’t feel his body but he sees that he was lying on the concrete floor. He sees not Midoriya Izuku’s fourteen year old body but Izuku’s body of a seventeen year old. He was naked, bloodied and just plain filthy. He sees a lot of people around him. Their gender and ages varies but they all had the same eyes, ruthless and hungry. The whole time he was falling in and out of consciousness. He heard devilish laughs, cruel jeers and sounds that no human should make. They were like mindless beasts ripping him apart, destroying everything that he is. One time he felt continuous stabs from many knives as they violated him over and over again.

  
  


After some time he heard loud screaming, furious screaming.

  


“IZUKU!!” “IZUKU-KUN!!” “DAD!!” “IZU-NII!!”

  


He knows those voices. He looks up in dread as he saw four adult figures, four of the eight holders of One-for-All. The first person who ever loved him as he is, his truest friend, his precious son and his adorable little sister, they watched him as they were chained. They watched as painful tears fell down their faces.

  
  


“I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!” “LET HIM GO!” “DAD NO! DON’T TOUCH HIM!” “NOOOO! STOP THIS NOW!”

  


They looked like they were in so much pain, sobbing uncontrollably as they struggled against their restraints.

  


_ Don’t make those faces. It’s fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. It will just heal. I won’t die after all. _

  
  


For some reason, it seemed like they heard him since they cried harder and struggled harder. They were just plain shouting now, shouts of pure anger, sorrow and pain. Seeing them like that made him hurt. They shouldn’t be crying for him. He’s strong. He’s smart. He won’t die. He will never die. 

  
  


_ So it’s fine right? You don’t need to cry for me. I’m not worthy of your love.  _ Tears finally run down his face when he saw the four of them try to tear their limbs just to get out of their restraints.

  
  


_ No don’t hurt yourselves for me. Stop that. I’m telling you I’m fine. It’s okay, don’t cry. Please not for me, never for me. Because I won’t be able to follow you when you die! We will never meet again! So please, not me. Don’t waste your time on me. Go on. Move ahead. Leave me. I’ll be fine. I’m strong. I’m in control. I’m a monster. _

  
  


“DON’T SAY THAT IZUKU, I LOVE YOU!” “YOU NEVER LEFT ME BEFORE, HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO LEAVE YOU NOW?!” “YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE STRONG DAD I’M HERE FOR YOU.” “IZU-NII YOU’RE NOT A MONSTER PLEASE DON’T CALL YOURSELF THAT!”

  
  


Izuku opened his mouth to say something but then the chains around the four former One-for-All holders moved and pulled them away through a tunnel. Izuku used his eyes to see to the end of the tunnel and his blood turned cold when he saw who it was.

  
  


“ALL-FOR-ONE!!!” Everyone around Izuku disappeared. He suddenly had clothes. He didn’t have time to check it or wonder how all of it was possible, he just run and run inside the seemingly endless tunnel.

  
  


_ He’ll kill them again. They’ll die again. I won’t be in time again. WHY AM I ALWAYS TOO LATE?! They’ll leave me alone. They’ll be dead. I don’t want them to die. Please don’t die. Please don’t take them away from me. _

  
  


He was panting and sweaty when he reached the end of the tunnel. But what he saw was the living room in the Midoriya household. Standing there were Mitsuki, Masaru and Katsuki. Inko was sitting down on the couch while crying. Beside her was Midoriya Izuku, he was wearing his black school uniform. Just like the day he died.

  
  


Inko looked up and he saw hatred in those eyes. He looked away and faces with the Bakugou’s and they were looking at him with disgust. His eyes strayed to Midoriya Izuku who looked like he was staring at a monster.

  
  


They all said the same thing.

  


“GO AWAY.”

  


So he left. He walked and walked. He didn’t even think of where he was or how long he was walking. But when he looked around he saw sand around him. His eyes became wide. He looked up to see a meteor overhead.

  


The last thing he did before he died again was to scream.

~~~

  


Izuku woke up by forcefully sitting up.

  
  


_ I can’t breathe, I’m burning, I feel numb, my heart hurts and I feel broken. _

  
  


He looked around but he couldn’t see anything. But he feels like he’s moving and hears people around him.

  


“He’s awake! But in shock push him down quick!” Immediately he felt hands grab his arms, shoulders and legs.

  
  


Izuku panicked.  _ What’s happening?! Where am I? All-for-One?!  _ He was thrashing wildly and his throat felt sore. He shortly wondered why but he heard his own roaring scream.

  


“NO! NO! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!” His voice didn’t sound like his. He felt feral. He grabbed into whatever he can hold onto with a steel grip. He heard a shrill scream but he didn’t care.

  
  


Izuku was confused. He moved on instinct.  _ They’re in danger. All-for-One will get them! _

  


“Sedatives aren’t working on him!”

  


Panicked screams surrounded him. It felt like chaos. But Izuku didn’t care. He knows in the back of his head that he’s teetering close to an insanity fit. But what he just experienced was still prickling in his skin. It felt real.  _ It was real.  _ Izuku’s mind supplies.

  
  


But before he could think or do more. Everything stops. Everything becomes dark. He doesn't even know what's happening. But he doesn’t sleep. He will never sleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should've been the last chapter before entrance exam but noooo, this already over 5.5k so yeah.
> 
> Thank you for everyone who read, commented, bookmarked, subscribed and left kudos! :D :D :D
> 
> Please tell me what you think :) not really confident about this one AHHHH XD


	7. Sunshine and Shadows part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bakugou Katsuki is being Bakugou Katsuki while Midoriya Izuku is being... well, Izuku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this a little bit after I updated some tags and changed the title and summary. I've got a little rant about that below if you're interested.
> 
> Welp, after eight days this is it. (I'm sorry I'll also explain this below)
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you to those who waited!  
> Please enjoy :D
> 
>  
> 
> Edit: I managed to post this chapter twice I'm sorry

_ ~~~ _

_ ‘Did you know that there are scars on my body Kacchan?’ _

  


_ ‘They’re healing Kacchan slowly, on my back, shoulders, chest, and legs.’ _

  


_ ‘Why are you trying to break something that’s already so broken?’ _

  


_ ‘Nothing but death can fix me.’ _

  


_ ‘I’d be lucky if I die at all’ _

  


_ ‘Real lucky if I die, staying alive this long is killing me.’ _

  


_ ‘It’s fine really. It happened a long time ago.’ _

  
  


_ ‘Kacchan?’ _

  


Katsuki saw Deku fell to the floor. Breaths laboured and body trembling. He was having a panic attack in their house but his parents weren’t there. He just stood there not sure what to do. He was about to help him out but when he tried to reach out, Deku pulled him by the arms. Then the floor was gone, he was falling in a deep pit with Deku standing at the top looking down on him.

  
  


“That’s what you get for being weak, Kacchan.”

  
  


Then when he woke up he was a kid again.

  


_ First year of middle school. Fuck. _

  
  


He was outside with his group for their first field trip in another city. It was a short two day trip about some shit that Katsuki didn’t give a fuck about.

  
  


“Wait Kacchan!” He looked back to see fucking Deku running after them.

  


“What do you think you’re doing here Deku?” One of his minions said as he shoved him away.

  
  


Deku, the stupid fuck as he is stupidly says, “I’m in your group, sensei said to stay together.”

  


“Who’d want to be in a group with you?” “Yeah go away!” The three idiots took turns shoving the trash away from him.

  
  


Deku, on the ground, looked up at Katsuki. “Get the fuck away from me.” That was the only thing he said before he walked away. Later that day, Deku came back alone covered in bruises smelling like shit.

  
  


Bug-eyed sensei scolded him for not following his direction of staying in one group. Deku didn’t say anything and kept his head down while everyone laughed at him.

  
  


From what he heard later, some local kids beat him up and threw him in the trash.  _ Like where he fucking belongs. _

  
  


He closed his eyes in irritation but when he opened them he suddenly saw his fourteen year old self in an alleyway. His eyes were wide. Because in front of him was Deku, naked and nasty with tears in his eyes as he clung to his dirtied clothes. He looked up to Katsuki and he shivered when he didn’t see green but cold golden eyes instead.

  
  


“It’s your fault.”

  


_ What the fuck? No– _

  


“You did this to me.”

  
  


Suddenly the Deku in front of him grew up into the same age as Katsuki. His tattoos were covering his freckles and made him look intimidating.  _ Fuck intimidating. He’s just a weak ass pebble. It doesn’t matter if he has a quirk. _

  
  


Deku stepped closer to him. Those eyes focused on him. Katsuki suppressed a shudder from breaking out.

  


“I hate you Kacchan.”

  
  


This left Katsuki speechless. Deku hates him?  _ I don’t fucking care. _ A voice scoffs in his mind but Deku spoke again.

  


“I hate you so much Katsuki.” That name didn’t sound right coming from the nerd. That expression didn’t look right. But then again, from the day his fucking quirk came out everything about the shitface just didn’t feel right.

  
  


Deku came closer. He was still naked but he wasn’t scrawny anymore. He noticed the nerd filling out especially these past few months. A strange feeling came over him when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders and a warm breath caress his ear and cheek.

  
  


_ No. This isn’t– _

  


“You’re not Deku.” He blurted out unconsciously as he looked onto the other’s face. Then suddenly, the golden eyes became pure emerald green. The marks disappeared showing his freckles. That fucking smile and expression was replaced with something more human. Timid, insecure and with a determined look that always sent an itch on Katsuki’s spine, an itch that was always relieved by anger. But now, putting his mouth on the other’s lips also seemed to do the trick.

  
  


He can’t breathe. Doesn’t want to if it meant not stopping whatever this was. Katsuki felt hot.  _ Too hot. _ He went to reach out to the body clinging to him. But when he moved his arms to wrap around the now trembling body on him, the ground disappeared once again and he fell.

~~~

  
  


Katsuki fell, head first off his bed. He woke up to the pain at his neck and cursed loudly at being interrupted–  _ At what? _

  
  


Then his dream came back like a giant wave, dragging him off the shore of sanity when he realized what he was about to do and who he was about to do in his dream. 

  


“FUCKING– GAHHHH!!”

  
  


“It’s too early to be shouting brat!” His mother’s yell came from downstairs, probably from the kitchen. But he didn’t care for that. Because  _ Fuck. _

  


_ FUCK. _

  


_ FUCK!! _

  


“FUUUUUUUUUCKKK!!!”

  
  


“HEY! If you’re jacking off right now you better quiet the FUCK DOWN!!!” Katsuki reflexively threw a book by his feet towards the door.

  


“Mind your own fucking business hag!”

  
  


Katsuki decided to not think about the fucked up thoughts brought by the shitty dream. He just fucking needs to focus on the U.A entrance exam that he’ll sure as fuck, ace.

  
  


After a few minutes he came down for breakfast with his surprisingly serious parents. The way they clearly want to tell him something but wasn’t started to annoy the hell out of Katsuki.

  


“What the fuck?” He asked them with a raised brow.

  
  


The old hag didn’t look at him. The old man pretended to be spacing out. Something’s going on and no one was planning on telling.

  


“What. The. Fuck?” He added a growl as he asked them again.

  
  


The silence stretched long enough for his father to say something.

  


“Eat your breakfast son. We’ll tell you when you get home later.” Katsuki still wanted to shout a protest but the serious look the old man shot him made Katsuki growl in frustration and just roughly resumed to eating his eggs.

  
  


When he got to the shitty school the nerd wasn’t in his seat. When the bell rang, he still wasn’t there.

  


_ Fucking hell, where is that loser?  _ The goody two shoes had never been this late to come to class. He’d always come a little close but that’s because he was avoiding Katsuki. But even now, when their poor excuse of a teacher was taking their attendance, Deku still wasn’t there.

  
  


“Oh right I almost forgot. Midoriya can’t come to class today since he was uh–” The fucktard was looking through the papers in his hand.

  


“SPIT IT OUT!” Katsuki found himself yelling for stupidface to say WHAT THE FUCK happened to Deku.

  
  


“Ah, here it is.” He acted as if he didn’t hear Katsuki. “He said he was hit by a nightmare quirk that resulted in him harming himself. But since he has...” He looked closer at the paper “Oh! He has Regeneration as part of his quirk so it seems he’ll be out tomorrow, a day before the U.A exams so everything’s fine.”

  
  


The class made a racket out of it for a while but paid attention to the blabbering idiot afterwards. Meanwhile Katsuki–

  
  


_ WHAT THE FUCK?! HARM HIMSELF?! HOW’S EVERYTHING FINE?! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?! WHERE–?! _

  


He remembers how his parents were this morning. Then,

  
  


_ Shit. They knew what happened and they didn’t tell me.  _

  
  


_ ‘Why are you trying to break something that’s already so broken?’ _

  
  


_ Well, fuck I don’t give a shit. _

  


He was mad at his parents, the shit school and Deku which admittedly, was a normal day for him. But another feeling besides anger made his heart beat faster. Whatever it was Katsuki didn’t know, need or want ever.

  
  


When he went home that afternoon he asked them while he was at the door. 

  


“WHAT THE FUCK!!!”

  
  


He started stomping his way inside towards the living room.

  


“Shut up brat! We’ll go to the hospital after you change and eat a little.” He heard the hag’s voice and saw her on the couch with the old man eating something like steamed buns.

  
  


The old man saw him by the stair and smiled. “Welcome home son. It seems like you know already. Get changed right away or we’ll leave you behind.” Katsuki would never admit that he never took off his pants as fast as he did that day.

  
  


The car ride was short. He didn’t pester his parents further since they didn’t know specifically what happened and they were gonna ask his Auntie Inko when they get there.

  
  


The old hag already knew what room Deku was in so they quickly went to room 4010 where they saw Auntie laying on the hospital bed with no Deku to be found.

  


“What the fuck?” He asked and got elbowed in the gut by the hag as an answer.

  


“Inko?” She softly called out to the sleeping woman as she silently walked closer. Katsuki and the old man followed.

  
  


They got closer and saw her tired and pale face. She looked uncomfortable in her sleep like she was having a nightmare. Before they even tried to wake her up, Auntie abruptly sat up with a shout of “Izuku!”

  
  


She looked around quickly then turned towards the three of them. She didn’t even seem to recognize them and hastily asked. “Izuku! Where’s my son?!”

  
  


The hag came forward and hugged her. “Inko it’s fine. It’s Mitsuki. Izuku’s...” she trailed off not knowing what to say next.

  
  


“Oh Auntie you came.” They all turned around to see Deku by the door, eyes closed and dressed in a T-shirt that says ‘T-shirt’ and an All might pajama bottoms. “Hello Uncle, Kacchan.” He nodded at them as he came inside the room and hugged Auntie who cried when she saw him.

  
  


“Oh my god. Izukuuuu!” She cried and hugged him so tight it must have hurt but Deku just smiled warmly at her.

  
  


“It’s fine now Mom, everything’s alright.” He started patting her head as he said this. For a moment it looked like Deku was the parent and Auntie was his child but the moment was broken when his mother smothered both of them in a hug the Katsuki knows is as painful as it looks.

  
  


“What the hell happened? You said Izuku-kun was sent to the emergency room but you’re the one who doesn’t look well.” She asked as she freed the mother and son from her clutches.

  
  


Auntie looked down and she said with a trembling voice. “So-someone hit Izuku with a nightmare quirk and he– he...” Tears were forming around her eyes again. Deku gently patted her back and continued.

  
  


“Apparently, I ripped my eyes out and scratched everywhere too hard that most of my nails broke off.” His parents gasped and Auntie choked a sob. Deku shrugged. “Those weren’t the only injuries I had but I doubt any of you would want to hear that.”

  
  


Deku smiled when he saw their faces. “It’s fine. My regeneration fixed everything see?” He held out his fingers and put it in front close to his face and opened his eyes peeking through the finger’s gaps.

  
  


Once again, it takes everything Katsuki has to not get lost in those eyes. So as usual he shouts his frustrations away.

  
  


“You fucking– Deku! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Because NO you don’t just talk about ripping out your fucking eyes like you’re talking about the weather.

  
  


He was about to shout some more but the old man covered his mouth so all that got out were muffled noises. But when he saw the pained expression on their faces he knew they were thinking the same thing.

  
  


“Izuku-kun.” The hag starts. “You... this, the way you treat the situation lightly is not normal.” She stopped and took a deep breath.

  


_ Wait. Shit. Is she gonna talk about that now? With Auntie here? _

  
  


“I don’t think it’s healthy. Even when you–” “Auntie.” Katsuki would like to think he wasn’t the only one who shivered when he heard how cold his tone was.

  
  


_ Fuck. Wrong. This is wrong. This isn’t the nerd I know. _

  
  


_ ‘You’re not Deku’  _

  
  


The dream came back to him. Not just the one he had this morning, but every dream he had this past months. Because the dreams never go away they never stop. Since the time the nerd meddled with the sludge villain. Since the time they talked behind the school building. Since the time he accidentally told them he was violated. 

  
  


Ever since Katsuki told Deku to die, thoughts about the loser, as much as he hated the fact, started filling his head. And the strongest thought he had about the nerd was.

  


_ I don’t know you. Who are you? Where did the real Deku go? _

  
  


But when he sometimes sees his happy smile when he mutters about quirks or when he frowns slightly at something he doesn’t understand he thinks  _ ‘Ah, there he is’ _ . And he thinks that these new sides annoy him so much because it tells him that maybe he never really knew who Deku was.

  
  


And that thought makes him believe that the fucking nerd hid things from him on purpose in order to defeat Katsuki. It makes him seethe with anger thinking that the calmness and confidence he’s showing now was only because he finally has a quirk and that now he doesn’t have a reason to hide that part of him to anyone especially Katsuki.

  
  


Before Katsuki realized it he was growling under his breath with small explosions going off on his hand and that he was being dragged out of the room by the old had.

  
  


“What the fuck?!” He asked as he saw the hag going with them with a sad look on their faces. Someone else who Katsuki didn’t know was now inside the room.

  
  


_ Fuck. Did I space out? Me? _

  


He took a look at Deku who was smilling happily at the newly arrived stranger.

  
  


_ That smile is not his. _

  


Deku saw him staring and waved at him. He smiled but Katsuki saw something behind it for a second. 

  
  


_ He’s tired. But he’s hiding it.  _

  
  


He glares at the nerd one last time before he was dragged out. They waited in the cafeteria because apparently the nerd was getting out this afternoon so that gave Katsuki time to think.

  
  


Deku’s always hiding things and that’s why Katsuki never felt at ease with the nerd. But now that feeling intensified.

  


_ What else is he hiding? _

  
  


Katsuki didn’t know shit but he doesn’t care as long as Deku never get in his way. But knowing the nerd was also aiming for U.A Katsuki thinks it’s likely that they’ll meet again in high school. He didn’t want to admit it but given that Deku has many secrets hidden the chances of him entering U.A is high, although Deku getting to the heroics department is still uncertain.

  
  


Thinking about the heroics department made the fire in Katsuki blaze again with the thought of  _ I’ll be number one. Those extras will eat my dust. And that includes Deku. _

  
  


He growls at that thought and ignores his mother’s annoyed sigh and high father’s placating smile. He also ignores the way other people in the cafeteria avoids their table.  _ Fucking cowards. _

\--

  


_ This has been a crazy day. _

  


He thinks as he walked down the silent hallway. But as he was nearing the room he was visiting, he hears voices.

  
  


“You fucking– Deku! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” 

  
  


_ A fight? Where? _ He thinks as he nears the room but then the shouting stopped and he heard a woman’s silent voice.

  
  


“Izuku-kun.”  _ Ah it’s from that room.  _ “You... this, the way you treat the situation lightly is not normal.”

  


_ So it’s about that. _

  
  


He’s now standing in front of the door. Thinking whether it’s a good time to come in.

  


“I don’t think it’s healthy. Even when you–” “Auntie.” Then the room inside turns quiet. He thinks it’s the timing he needed to come in.

  
  


He knocked lightly before opening the door and stepping inside.

  
  


The atmosphere was heavy. An angry blond kid has a man, his father maybe, covering his mouth. The blond woman, the angry kid’s mother he thinks, is just standing there looking sadly at Midoriya Izuku-kun.

  
  


The kid saw him and everyone else besides the angry boy looked at him.

  


“Ah, Good afternoon. I’m sorry for interrupting but–”

  
  


“That’s okay Tsukauchi-san! Thank you for coming by again.” The kid beamed at him. Seeing him like that makes him think that  _ Ah, he’s just a child.  _ He smiles back.

  
  


“No need to thank me I’m just doing my job.” He turns to the ones he thinks are the parents of the blond boy still staring daggers at the kid. “I’m a police detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. It’s nice to meet you.” He offers a smile and the father smiles back.

  
  


“Nice to meet you too Tsukauchi-san. I’m Bakugou Masaru and this is my wife and son, Mitsuki and Katsuki.” The woman nods at him and the child didn’t even seem to notice Naomasa. He smiles apologetically before saying.

  
  


“I’m sorry but I need to talk again to the Midoriya’s. It won’t be long but it is still part of our investigation so can I please ask you to leave for a bit.”

  
  


The older Bakugou’s nod at him. “Of course. Izuku looks fine now right? Are you getting out tomorrow or today?”

  


Midoriya Inko-san who looked tired and like she just cried smiled and nodded at the Bakugou Mitsuki-san.

  
  


“It’s actually today Mitsuki. Izuku healed faster than the doctor’s thought he would.”

  
  


She nodded. Her eyes linger sadly at Midoriya but he just smiles at them. She then proceeded to drag her son, who was starting to have explosions pop from his palms, out of the room. That seemed to wake him up and he looked around and yelled.

  
  


“What the fuck?!” He takes one last glare at the kid before the Bakugou’s were out of the room. Now it’s only him and the Midoriya’s. Naomasa cleared his throat.

  
  


“So I’m just going to ask the same questions I did before to see if you have remembered something about the one who hit you with a quirk. Is that alright?” He sat in a chair and saw the kid smile and Midoriya-san frown.

  
  


“It’s just the same questions right?” The kid asked him. Naomasa nodded. “In that case, Mom?” He turned to look at his mother. “I know you’re not comfortable with what happened and you already heard it the first time so it’s okay if you go out.”

  
  


Midoriya-san shook her head. “I’m fine Izuku.” But Midoriya-kun put a hand on her shoulder.

  


“You don’t need to force yourself. Plus you can arrange my discharge while the Tsukauchi-san and I talk.” He smiled. “Please?”

  
  


In the end, Midoriya-san relented and left him and Midoriya in the room.

  


The moment Midoriya-san left, the innocent expression on the kid’s face disappeared.

  


_ Ah, the kid’s gone. _

  


“Thank you again for doing this Naomasa.” He still couldn’t believe the situation he was in but he answered.

  
  


“Well, you called my father and made him tell me to do everything you say or he’ll disown me and kill himself.” He looks at the kid and thinks about how he can be friends with his father and apparently grandfather.

.

.

.

“Immortality quirk?”

  


Naomasa looks at the kid that was once full of scratches and with bandage covering his eyes the moment he hang up the call with his father.

  


“Yes.” The kid says. “I’ve known the Tsukauchi’s for a very long time because I have an immortality quirk. Didn’t Nao tell you that?”

  
  


“Please don’t call my father that.” He sighs when the kid shrugged.

  


“Your family has been in the police force since before quirks materialized. Your family is one of my oldest friends and my most trusted connection to the police.” The way the kid looked at Naomasa even with bandages covering his eyes was kind of creepy.

  
  


“And I broke my finger earlier. Did you forget? I can’t kill myself right now because that would take too long but that’s immortality I tell you.”

  
  


He would never forget that. After the usual questioning he did, which was just the kid lying on almost all of his questions.

  
  


_ ‘What’s your name?’ _

  


_ ‘Midoriya Izuku sir.’ _

  


_ A lie. _

  


_ ‘What’s your age?’ _

  


_ ‘Fourteen.’ _

  


_ Lie. _

  


_ ‘Do you know what caused this?’ _

  


_ ‘Yes.’ _

  


_ Not a lie. _

  


_ ‘What caused this?’ _

  


_ ‘Someone hit me with some kind of a nightmare quirk.’ _

  


Lie.

  


_ ‘How do you know that and when and where do you think you were hit by the quirk.’ _

  


_ ‘Well, when I was walking by the park on my way home I tried to stop someone robbing another person. I stopped him but he did something, grinned at me and said sweet dreams. So from that I think I’m correct.’ _

  


A big fat lie.

.

.

.

Naomasa asked him a lot more questions after that but most of them were lies. Midoriya-san went out when the kid asked for something to eat and drink.

  


_ ‘That buys us a bit of time to talk. You’re a Tsukauchi right? So I think it’s right to assume that you have a truth or lie detecting quirk of some kind?’  _ The kid looked at his face for a bit and smiled.  _ ‘I’m right. Perfect, this makes things easier.’ _

  
  


After that was the call with his father and the kid literally breaking his finger and healing. 

  


He comes back to the kid’s chuckling. “I think you know that he was just kidding around about the disowning and suicide stuff.”

  
  


Naomasa sighed again. “Yes I know.”

  
  


The kid smiling face disappeared again. “Almost one day must have given you the time to go home and ask Nao.”

  
  


Naomasa didn’t want to believe it. But everything his father told him was the truth and he knows that his father was not crazy. But believing something as ridiculous as an immortality quirk is something he can just put his head around.

  
  


“I know what you’re thinking.” He looked at the kid. “I’ll show you my Immortality quirk but not here and we can’t anything more here. Come to the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park at six a.m the morning of the U.A entrance exam.”

  
  


Naomasa decides to agree. Something like an immortality quirk cannot be talked about casually in a place like this. And with nothing else to talk about, Naomasa decides to leave.

  
  


“Well that’s that, I guess I’ll see you two days from now.” The kid said when he saw Naomasa stand up.

  


“Yes. See you then.”

  
  


Naomasa then walks out of the room. He holds his head in his palm as he walked down the hall. He needs to tell someone about this but first he needs to work.

  
  


Later that day, as he works overtime he dials the number of someone he can trust.

  


“Hello Toshinori?” __

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know it's short. This was supposed to be 8-10k as an apology but it was becoming heavy again and I think it's important to have some breathing room so I cut it up. But don't worry that means the next update will be in a day or two :)
> 
> I say breathing room but it wasn't even funny cause I can't do dark humour without Izuku's POV so yeah. This chapter just doesn't have that heavy angst I think so this maybe works as a rest chapter from all the angst? Well nothing really interesting really happens here (is this considered an intermission?) but expect more in the next one.
> 
> About the title and summary well... I posted this story thinking that I'll write a super OP Izuku in canon events and that it should be funny and light!
> 
> And you know what happened next. So I really wasn't expecting to write Izuku in a vulnerable kind of way. But I like it now and that's why I'm going with the flow. But the title and summary I think didn't match the content now so yeah sorry for that.
> 
> I'm gonna update the tags as I go so sorry again. And let me just say that writing Katsuki ails me with how difficult it is to get his character right ugh.
> 
> Please tell me what you think! And once again, thank you for reading, bookmarking, subscribing, commenting and leaving kudos! It gives me life! :D


	8. Sunshine and Shadows last part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I'm still alive so here's a 6.8k chap for you great people. Okay, I don't know if this character was introduced in s3 but a character in the manga appears here. This wasn't really planned and it just happened so sorry about that late tag.
> 
> And yeah this chap is kind of late sorry but I revised this chap because it really was too heavy so here please enjoy~
> 
> Edit: Hey! Sorry if your disappointed that this isn't a new chapter update but I edited this heavily (imo only though), changed some things here and there and added a little scene at the end making this 7.2k or something words so if you want you can read it again or even just the added scene at the end.
> 
> This was first posted on June 3 and this edited version is on June 7, ch 9 is coming along but I said in the comments to focus more on the quality and length while sacrificing the frequent updates. So 1 week would now be the fastest I can update I think and 2 weeks is the slowest.
> 
> If this is your first time reading this chapter then please enjoy! And if this is your second time reading this then I hope you still enjoy this even for a bit :)

Shortly after Naomasa left, Izuku’s discharge was settled. Then they went home, escorted by the Bakugou’s in their car. Katsuki sat quietly in front with his Dad and at the passenger seat were Mo–Midoriya Izuku’s mother, Aun– Mitsuki and himself. It was a bit of a tight fit but Izuku have experienced dying through crushing countless times so it was fine.

  


_I’ve had worse._ Izuku shrugged internally.

  
  


Mitsuki asked questions that Inko answered while Izuku feigned sleep. They arrived at the Midoriya residence after a while and said their goodbyes. It was a bit awkward between Izuku and Mitsuki but he’d address that problem another time. He and Inko spent that night peacefully. Eating dinner together and just talking about heroes, quirks and make-up and just about anything they can talk about. It was nice, it was fun. It was domestic.

  
  


But then, the nightmare the night before made Izuku realize his mistake. He was getting attached to someone who was a stranger. Inko was a mother to Midoriya Izuku but to Izuku, she wasn’t anyone important. He couldn’t even fathom how he was able to treat her like a mother. The age difference between them was enough to make Izuku Inko’s great great grandfather. The same also applied to the Bakugou’s.

  
  


He became too caught up in his act as Midoriya Izuku that he almost forgot who he really was. Izuku was too eager to finally experience the normal life he never had and for a while, he actually thought that he was a normal happy kid... that he was not a monster only that looked human.

  
  


During those ten months Izuku was dreaming, it was really ironic that a nightmare woke him from that. Now that Izuku was finally awake, he needed to make the preparations that were ten months overdue. And that was the reason why he was at Dagobah at one thirty in the morning, barefoot in his t-shirt that said ‘Tank top’ and shorts. He didn’t bother with a blindfold today.

  


Izuku needed to go somewhere where he could fix everything but first...

  
  


“Come on legs break for me.” Izuku, who was sitting down on the sandy beach near the waves could barely reach his feet, said as he held up a big rock with sharp edges and repeatedly bashed it into his knees, ankles and toes. 

  
  


He did this for thirty minutes and only stopping for a little bit in between to let the destroyed and bloody limbs to heal, the water effectively washing the blood to get rid of any evidence as to what he was doing to his legs. The salty water hurt his self-inflicted injuries but Izuku just grit his teeth slightly on the pain that would have made a grown person cry pathetically before losing consciousness. After the scales came out and can no longer inflict any damage, he stopped and started walking towards a manhole.

  
  


He destroyed the heavy lid without handles, jumped inside and landed on the narrow walkway on the side and the moment Izuku felt his scaled feet hit the slightly grimy floor, he started in a sprint. It was pitch black but it didn’t mean anything with Izuku’s eyes. He also felt the familiar lack of oxygen and the abundance of noxious gases inside. No normal human without proper equipment could survive here but since Izuku was fine, it was another reminder how he was so far away from being human.

  


_ Places like these are where I thrive.  _

  
  


Every step moved him more than ten meters forward. Izuku was careful during turns and he avoided using too much force that would make him jump upward. After a few minutes, Izuku, who knew Japan’s sewage system by heart, could tell that he was outside of Musutafu. But Izuku’s destination was much farther. He continued running until he spent half an hour in the sewers.

  
  


He took a left here, then a right there and when he figured that he was close Izuku quieted his steps. He then walked normally towards a dead end and faced a wall. He put his palm against a section of it and suddenly a faint green light came out and traced his palm.

  


_ So this entrance till works huh. _

  
  


A second later the wall opened up. Izuku looked at all of this calmly. He was the one who built it after all. He then went inside and the wall closed up from behind him as Izuku walked through the dark corridor. At the end of the passage was an elevator. Izuku got in and pressed up. There was only one room that the elevator was connected to and when the door opened, what he saw was one of the labs that he was so familiar with. It couldn’t compare to the one destroyed by All-for-One but it was still better than what most have.

  
  


Of course, Izuku hadn’t been here for fifteen years and after his last visit, the incident that turned him into a baby happened so there were bound to be some changes. There were signs of usage but it was too clean.  _ Maybe the one Hoshi hired liked a clean work place _ . Looking at the new equipment here, Izuku quickly found out what they were doing.

  


“Drugs huh? I thought Hoshi didn’t agree with selling them?” He looked a bit more to see what kind of drugs they were making and was surprised when he got the answer.

  
  


“Quirk booster! And it was based from my incomplete formula. He said that selling drugs would go against their principle so I stopped and now he continued it.” Izuku had his brows raised for a bit before shrugging. “Well, people change with time I guess.”

  
  


He also noticed that there were machines not used for making drugs but for human experimentation. He recognized all of them since he used all of it and more on himself before. He was the star of all of his experiments after all. Again, the lack of blood or scent of it impressed Izuku and the ones he could notice were faint to none.

  
  


_ Whoever worked here is good. _

  
  


The room was locked but he remembered that there was someone here who can fix broken things so he lifted his right foot and gently pushed one of his toes against the steel door. The section of the door he pressed into couldn’t endure and a small hole was made. Then he used his toe to cut the steel like paper and make a big enough hole for him to go through. It was done swiftly and silently that in just seconds he was walking down the hall, turning confidently around corners until he was in front of his associate’s office.

  
  


He heard talking on the other side of the door and recognized Hoshi’s voice. Izuku sighed in relief and although it sounded older than he remembered, he was used to the people he knew overtaking and leaving him behind so he just shook off the ‘human’ feelings inside him. Izuku listened in the conversation and heard something that piqued his interest. When he heard the conversation heating up, he put his hand around the door knob. Finding that it wasn’t locked Izuku opened it and went inside.

\--

  


“The ability to render those hero types powerless. There are a lot of people out there who want that ability.”

  


_ After telling him this, my plan, he’ll surely understand and support it. It’s for the group after all _

  
  


“Fuelled by hunger, they’ll come to buy the completed product from us at high prices. A product that completely extinguishes quirks.”

  


_ This is all for the group.  _ He had just finished confirming Eri’s quirk and the possibilities that opened up with the discovery made him excited.

  
  


“And once that starts to go around, we can dangle a serum that rewinds the damage and restores lost quirks! From the hero side, we offer the serum. And to the villain side, guns and bullets! With Eri’s body at the center, we can monopolize the market!”

  


He was getting excited with the vision of the group that saved his life gaining its former glory that disappeared when those people infected with hero syndrome appeared. His plague mask couldn’t muffle his animated voice.

  
  


“And if we do that, then the yakuza... Our group can emerge from the darkness and–”

  


“Chisaki” He stopped and looked at the man who saved him and gave him a home. He looked terrified of Kai for some reason and he couldn’t understand why. “I already told you no. To do that to the girl... what are humans to you?”

  
  


Kai didn’t understand. He was ready to dirty his hands for the group so why doesn’t he look happy?

  


“If you’re disobeying our way of thinking then you should just leave.”

  
  


_ Me? Leave? Why? I can’t. Not when I haven’t even given anything back to you and the group. _

  


“No... All I want to do is repay you for taking me in boss...”  _ This isn’t the reaction I was expecting. I thought you would say I did a good job and help me revive the group. Why can’t you see it pop? The bigger picture, that I’m doing everything for the group. There’s no other way to do this than using force and making great sacrifices. _

  
  


Kai can’t take seeing the group like this any longer. “Enough is enough. Just shut up and watch.” Hari– no, Chrono stood beside him. It was part of his plan to adapt aliases to be more intimidating. After a while he’ll go from Chisaki Kai to Overhaul.

  


_ Just rest for now pop. I’ll wake you up when my plan succeeds and the group is restored. _ Kai stepped closer. Readying himself to put the man he considered his father into comatose. But when he raised his hand and was about to remove his medical glove, the door opened softly and he heard a voice from the door behind him.

  
  


“Sup Hoshi, sorry I wasn’t able to come for a few years. The villain mastermind wannabe did a number on me and viola here I am younger and you an old man. I know I really look different from before but it’s me Izuku, the one who set you up with your wife because you were too terrified to talk to her.” A barefooted teenage kid came in. His golden eyes scanned the room and landed on Kai. The kid’s brow rose for a bit before exclaiming.

  
  


“You’re the brat that we saved last time! I knew you looked familiar. It’s good that you’re here you have a disassembling reassembling quirk right? You see, I kinda destroyed the door to the lab so if you could fix that later that would be great.” The kid smiled brightly at him, seemingly not intimidated by Chrono and especially by Kai who slipped into his stance since the kid started talking.

  
  


Meanwhile, he heard a gasp from behind him and saw his pops standing in surprise, pointing at the kid.

  


“Yo– you! Are you really?! Is that you Izuku-sama?! You’re alive!” His pops was trembling. His smile was almost splitting his face. This brought in Kai’s mind the question about the kid’s relation to pops. And why was he referred to with such respect?

  
  


The kid rolled his eyes at his pop’s outburst and replied with a wry tone. “Yeah yeah I’m alive, please stop rubbing salt into my wounds. I thought you knew by now how I hated being alive.” Kai was ready to attack the kid due to his insolence but was stopped when his pops shouted again.

  


“It IS you! You’ve come back!” Kai’s never seen him this excited before and that just increased his suspicions.

  
  


The kid smiled at pops. “Of course, how could I abandon the group I created with your great grandfather?” He then turned towards Kai. “You’re the one working in that lab right?” Kai didn’t answer. He was being cautious. The kid gave off a silent pressure that wasn’t noticeable at first but after looking carefully at his movements, Kai realized that everything is calculated. No opening for attack presented itself and something inside Kai screamed to danger. As if there was a monster in front of him. As if those cold golden eyes can see right through Kai.

  
  


The kid didn’t wait for him to answer and continued. “You kind of smell like blood and chemicals and I’ve been around those a lot so I can tell even if you try hard to clean off the scent.” The kid then came closer, smile no longer in his face. “There’s also a faint scent of insanity within you boy.” Kai couldn’t suppress a shiver from the boy’s tone and words. He quickly jumped back to put enough distance between them. Chrono seemed frozen as he looked at the kid’s golden eyes. 

  
  


The kid acted like nothing happened and continued. “Whatever you’re doing right now, it’s not good for anyone especially for you. You better stop while you can.” Kai was about to answer but stopped when he saw the expression on the kid’s face. It looked like he was reminiscing about something. But what made Kai’s breath stop was the sorrow and regret that showed in his eyes. “If you’re ready to do anything and everything to reach a goal, you need to be prepared to lose everything else along the way, including your sanity.”

  
  


_ This is ridiculous. Who the hell does he think he is? And why is it that there’s so much weight in his words? _

  


“You’re just a brat, what would you know about what my goals are?” Having a kid, someone who came out of nowhere, preach him about his goals is just ludicrous. It’s a joke. But Kai isn’t laughing, apparently so was the kid. Although there was a hint of dark mirth that can be found in the way the corner of his lips quirked a little. It was a really unsettling contrast, seeing how dead his eyes looked.

  
  


“I don’t know anything about your goals but I do know a thing or two about insanity. Hell, if you’ve seen how I was in the past you bet your mask that I could be the face of all the mental care facilities or maybe horror films I don’t know.” The kid then flashed a toothy smile at him and suddenly the pressure he emitted disappeared. He looked away and walked towards pops.

  
  


“Anyway Hoshi, there are four reasons as to why I’m here. First is to make sure everyone here is still alive.” He saw the kid’s eyes soften a little when he said that. “Oh, by the way we’re still called the same as always right?”

  
  


Pops sighed at that. “Actually Chisaki here just proposed to change it last week because...” Pops cleared his throat and lowered his voice to mimic Kai’s “The old name sounds weak. We need to change it to gain the respect of the newer groups.” Kai heard Chrono stifle a laugh at that, his arrow shaped hair bobbing a little. Kai was already used to the man’s antics so he chose to ignore it.

  
  


The kid chuckled at that and looked at Kai. “Thank you for that. I’ve always hated that name. Good to know someone actually had the balls to suggest changing it.”

  


Kai saw pops gape at that and nearly shouted. “You and the founder chose that name Izuku-sama! And the following generations had always respected and protected that name. How could you say that?!”

  
  


The kid just shrugged. “I’m old. Humour me.” Seeing pop’s face not changing he added. “I lost in a rock, paper, scissors, lizard, spock tournament okay? The founder’s younger brother won and he got to choose the name. And his naming sense sucks. Do you know he used to call me Izuchan-sama?”

  


_ What’s spock?  _ Kai wanted to ask but decided not to and just focused on listening in on their conversation.

  
  


When the kid saw pops still frozen he turned to Kai who didn’t know what to do, he had always been an awkward kid and that just got worse as he grew up. So no matter how smart he is, Chisaki didn’t know what to say or do. From their conversation, he had come to a conclusion as to who or what the kid is. But the conclusion he formed was just too absurd to believe.

  


“So what’s the new name?” The kid asked.

  
  


Kai forced his mind to go back to reality and he answered. “The Eight Precepts.” For some reason he felt a bit shy saying that name. He felt relief when he saw the kid smile.

  
  


“Nice. It’s from Buddhism right? But it feels like something’s lacking. How about adding the word death in it? Everything’s better with Death. Like Death of the Eight Precepts.” Kai was just about to protest when the kid quickly added. “I kid of course. How about the Eight Precepts of Death, sounds nice right?” Kai was about to say something when what the kid said sink in his mind.

  
  


_ Eight precepts of Death? _

  
  


“It’s not bad Chi– I mean Overhaul. It has a nice ring to it.” Chrono said from beside him. Kai didn’t want to but he had to agree. But he didn’t want to say that with the kid here. For some reason Kai didn’t want to admit that he liked the kid’s idea. So he only said “I’ll think about it.” 

  
  


The kid shrugged and faced pops that seemed to have recovered and was now looking amused at their previous conversation. He smiled at pops and said. “Anyway, as I was saying that was the first reason the second reason was to ask for something. Can you give me some strong acid? The variant I made that melts bones in just seconds, I think I stored some it here just in case the stock in my other lab runs out or become inaccessible.”

  
  


Pops looked like he wanted to ask something but opted not to. He just nodded. “I see. Chisaki here has taken over all of the research you left here so he also has access to all of the things you’ve stored in this place so you can talk to him later.” He saw the kid smirk and looked at Kai.

  


“I knew it. You took over my drug booster project as well, didn’t you? Did you finish it?”

  
  


Kai was really confused now. The quirk booster that he named Trigger after completion was something he accidentally found in the lab. That ingenious formula was instrumental to their groups income increasing and it helped a lot when they were being pressured by the heroes and villains. But...

  
  


“That’s impossible. That formula was at least thirty years old. You couldn’t have...” Kai’s mind was operating at high speeds trying to make sense of the situation. And the only explanation he came up with was... “You have a longevity quirk. But that doesn’t explain why you look so young. Although from what you said earlier someone did something to you that made you younger, the effect of another quirk perhaps?” He was still thinking of the other possibilities but he was interrupted by the kid clapping his hands.

  
  


“That’s amazing. You were close. I look forward to working with you when you succeed Hoshi.” The kid’s smile made the corner of his eyes wrinkle and it felt warm and comforting but Kai found himself doubting whether that smile was real or not because for some reason, the dark expression the kid showed before felt more real and tangible and it seemed like the raw emotion of that expression alone had the ability to suffocate Kai. That expression had burned itself into his memory.

  
  


He wasn’t answering and just stared at the kid. He needed to know everything about him after this. And as if his mind was read, the kid said to pops. “Tell him about me later okay.” Pops looked hesitant. The issue about Eri wasn’t forgotten as with the fact that he tried to harm him earlier. Kai knew that what he did and tried to do was crossing the line but he was just that desperate to fix everything. He wasn’t wrong. He wasn’t wrong but why can’t he look pops in the eyes?

  


_ Is this shame? Why? I’m not wrong. This is the only way to repay them, by changing this society using force. _

  
  


Kai didn’t know how but the kid noticed something wrong between the two of them. He sighed and continued. 

  
  


“Okay we can talk about that later. This is the third reason why I’m here. I need to ask you for protection.” Pops looked surprised by this.

  
  


“You need our protection? How... how can anyone be a threat to you Izuku-sama? I mean, what happened with All-for-One was unfortunate but he was just lucky and even with that you’re still alright. What kind of monster can be a threat to you?!” Pops was shaking a bit. Kai’s mind also shook with the mention of All-for-One. 

  
  


Everyone in the underworld knew who he was. To his generation he was a myth. But the older generation believed with conviction and fear that he was real. And right now in front of him is an inexplicable existence which can possibly have a longevity quirk and was supposedly alive since the formation of the precept. So Kai couldn’t be blamed if he’s starting to believe the existence of what was said to be the oldest and strongest villain ever.

  
  


“Not me Hoshi, I want you to protect Midoriya Inko and the Bakugou family in Musutafu. They’re my cover for my new identity, Midoriya Izuku. I plan to become a pro hero and change the system from the inside. I know that my connections on the hero side would help me but they wouldn’t be enough for All-for-One. So before I kill him once and for all I want you to protect the people I just mentioned.”

  
  


The kid’s face remained impassive the whole time he said that. “My relationship to those people is complicated. The quirk that I was hit with the night All-for-One attack sealed my memories making me develop a new persona that controlled this body for fourteen years. And I feel that persona corrupting the current me which is really dangerous. This is actually my fourth reason for coming here. I want you to use you’re quirk and expel everything foreign inside me.”

  
  


Kai was surprised by the kid’s request. The quirk of his pops is called Return. He can change the current state of something or someone and return it to its previous state. It’s most common use is for healing or reattaching limbs. But he can only return it to state of within twenty four hours before the current state was reached and he can only use his quirk on people or things that he’s known or had for a long time. Kai had never heard of it being used on anything but on physical states.

  
  


He saw pops straighten and made a serious expression. “You want me to return your mental state to the one before All-for-One attacked you fourteen years ago?”

  


The kid looked pops in the eyes and nodded. “Yes. I know that returning mental states are easier for you and fourteen years is a piece of cake.”

  
  


Pops sighed. “Yes but it’s more complicated and dangerous than returning physical states and there’s a high chance of failure and failure means dea –” He stopped and sighed. “Oh, who am I kidding? You don’t even care about that risk right?”

  
  


The kid broke his facade and grinned at this, his eyes taking on a dangerous glint. “This can hardly be considered a risk Hoshi, at least not to me.”

  


Pops groaned. “Fine. You two go out. I need silence for this. You two can wait outside if you want.”

  
  


Kai wanted to protest but the kid took a seat in the floor and pops stood from where he sat and stood behind the kid, kneeling and putting his hand on the kid’s head. So they had no choice but to go out and wait for it to be over.

  
  


It quickly became an hour but they’re still not done. Kai thinks that this might take a few more hours when he hears a loud shout of “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

  
  


It didn’t even take a second before Kai disassembled the door and went in with Chrono, who is readying his quirk. Inside they saw the kid, who looked perfectly fine besides the furious expression on his face, standing over pops that was still kneeling on the ground looking weak due to quirk exhaustion. They were about to attack when their boss motioned for them to stop with his hand.

  
  


“What do you mean, you can’t get rid of it?! Your quirk worked right?! I didn’t die on the fiftieth try so it must have worked! ” The kid’s clenched fists were trembling and there was panic in his eyes. Kai temporarily ignored what the kid’s words meant and found himself fascinated of the show of emotion on the kid’s face. He didn’t peg him for the type who loses his composure like that. But it made Kai unconsciously heave a sigh of relief at the knowledge that he can get angry like a normal person. It made the kid seem more human.

  
  


Chrono went to pops and supported him on his shoulders. When Chrono asked him if he was alright he said. “I’m fine.” He looked apologetically at the kid. “It did work Izuku-sama but I didn’t find anything different in your mental state now and fourteen years ago. I checked and went farther reaching you when you were in your hundreds, the farthest I could go and there’s still nothing to be changed.”

  
  


The kid didn’t seem satisfied at that. “How can that be possible?! You went inside my head so you must have an idea what that new personality is like. That isn’t me! It was something created when my memories were sealed and I want you to get rid of his influence! Look at what he’s doing to me?! Shit!” The kid’s starting to have laboured breaths.

  
  


Kai planned to go to him but the shout pops made stopped him. “NO! Don’t go near him! Izuku-sama are you alright? Are you... is it starting again?”  _ What’s starting?  _ Kai asked himself but he froze when he felt a very thick air of bloodlust from the kid. His eyes widened and prepared to defend himself.  _ From what?  _ He didn’t know but that’s what his instincts told him.

  
  


The kid knelt on the floor and tried to control his breathing.

  
  


“Is he having a panic attack?” Chrono asked and pops tensely said. 

  
  


“It’s nothing as cute as that. I’ve only seen it once but I’d never forget it. It’s still burned in the back of my mind. One moment it looked like he was having a panic attack during a battle against another group then the next moment he’s killed everyone around him and went on a rampage that lasted for hours.” He was taking small steps backward while talking.

  
  


“If it weren’t for my father dragging me away quickly I would have been caught up with that. Izuku-sama called it an ‘insanity fit’ and apologized profusely afterwards and said that it didn’t happen often. My father also said that it was only his second time seeing it so it really was a rare occurrence.”

  
  


Kai remembered what the kid said to him earlier.  _ ‘I don’t know anything about your goals but I do know a thing or two about insanity.’  _  Kai found himself staring at the kid who was clawing at the floor making pained groaning sounds.

  
  


It was very tense inside the room. Pops looked genuinely afraid and that made Chrono and Kai feel anxious as well. But after a minute, the sounds stopped and the kid slowly stood up drenched in sweat.

  
  


When they saw his face it looked so normal that you couldn’t even imagine that he was just scaring everyone in the room a moment ago.

  
  


“I’m fine.” Is what the kid says first with a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for that. But see what I’m talking about Hoshi? The other me’s influence on my body and mind is dangerous, it slackens my control over myself. It’s very dangerous.” The kid talked calmly, successfully relaxing the three who were just in their fight or flight instinct earlier.

  
  


“Now please tell me why you couldn’t get rid of the other me’s influence. And please don’t be afraid of telling it to me straight up. I’ll believe whatever you found out with your quirk.” The other three quickly got their composure and pops took a deep breath then said. 

  
  


“The one you call the other ‘you’ is not a new persona Izuku-sama. It wasn’t a new personality made when your old memories were sealed.” The kid just listened without interrupting pops encouraging him to continue when pops looked hesitant.

  
  


“The other ‘you’ is made of all the emotions you’ve always repressed and pretended that didn’t exist. He is you. Midoriya Izuku is you, Izuku-sama. He’s not someone different from you. He’s just another side that you didn’t want to acknowledge.” Pops looked at the kid but not at the same time. It’s like he was seeing something else. He was probably thinking about what he saw with his quirk.

  
  


“And when you were sealed Izuku-sama, the lock that you’ve put on those emotions was opened and that was what made Midoriya Izuku.” Kai didn’t know the complete picture here but seeing the flurry of emotions quickly flashing on the kid’s eyes but easily disappearing afterwards, Kai figured that the kid didn’t want to believe it.

  
  


“It’s not that I can’t return you Izuku-sama, it’s just that even if I return you nothing would change. Those feelings would still be there but for some reason I can’t return how to return the lock on those emotions.” Kai looked at pops. These new details of pop’s quirk he was hearing right now amazed Kai. But the risks were really high, if what pops said about death upon failure was true.

  
  


“And now, it’s taking the opportunity to fuse with the rest of you. It’s not changing you Izuku-sama, it’s just making you complete. It’s making you become who you really are.” The kid knuckles were trembling. It’s like Kai could see the cogs in the kid’s brain turn. He’s thinking really hard right now. And when he was done he looked up at pops. His golden eyes were intense and everyone was enraptured by it.

  
  


“You’re not lying right, Hoshi?” His voice was sombre. And pops nod with his mouth in a straight line. “Yes Izuku-sama. I would never lie to you especially on something like this.” The kid’s gaze lingered for a second searching for something on pops eyes and then nodded slowly. “Okay, I believe you. I just need to process all of this. Hey you.” The kid looked at Kai.

  
  


“Me?” Kai dumbly asked.

  
  


“Yeah, what’s your name?” The kid’s tone irritated Kai but what irked him the most was how he easily answered. “It’s Chisaki Kai.”

  
  


The kid nodded and turned to pops. “Sorry for my selfish requests and thank you for helping me Hoshi. I’m taking Kai with me to get those acids and then I’m going to Musutafu. I might not be back for a while since I’ll be busy with hero studies but I’ll come from time to time.”

  
  


Pops nodded and smiled at the kid. “Please don’t thank me Izuku-sama. Even my life isn’t enough to thank you for everything you’ve done for the family since my great grandfather’s time. And I’m just glad that you’re alright.”

  
  


The kid smiled sweetly at pops and slowly walked to the door. “I’m glad you’re still alive as well. And please do remember those people I asked you to protect. Their important to the other me and they’re really good children and I don’t want them to get dragged into my mess. Okay?”

  
  


The smile pops had told Kai that he wanted to say something to the kid but he just said. “You can count on us Izuku-sama.” Kai barely caught the whispered  _ ‘I’m glad you’ve found more people important to you’  _ of pops and whether the kid also caught that or not, his small smile didn’t give anything away.

  
  


“Let’s go Kai.” Kai was startled by the sudden use of his first name but he followed the kid out the room.

  
  


“Oh.” The kid stopped by the door and turned to pops. “I almost forgot. You can trust this kid with the Eight Precepts of Death. He’s just a lost child at the moment but he’s not that bad from where I see it. And don’t worry I’ll still be around during his generation so that should be enough reassurance, right?”

  
  


Pops and Chrono looked surprised by what the kid said and so was Kai. Kai also wanted to address the way he just called him kid and how he had called the group the Eight Precepts of Death as if it was already decided. But the kid looked like he didn’t care about their reactions and just went outside the office and Kai had no choice but to follow after him.

  
  


The kid led the way to the lab with confidence and when they arrived there Kai’s eyes widened at what happened at the door. He looked at the kid and saw a sheepish smile. Kai sighed and reassembled the door and opened it with the fingerprint scanner.

  
  


Now he’s just watching the kid rummage through their stocks of finished product looking for that acid the kid said he made. After a while, it looked like the kid found it and got a small box filled of vials of acid and put t on the table. Kai wondered that if that acid could really melt bones in seconds then how was the vial able to hold it. The kid just smiled cryptically in reply. Kai then shrugged and moved on to his next question.

  
  


“You said earlier that I have a faint smell of insanity. How do you know that it’s just faint and that I’m not full blown insane?” He saw the kid turn to him a bit and smile at him.

  
  


“I mean, it’s not that you’re not dangerous because you are but I’ve met worse. I can also tell that you’re walking on a thin line right now between being reasonably evil and being sickeningly evil.” The kid took one vial from the storage that Kai didn’t recognize and opened it. It’s scent wafting in the room. Izuku nodded and put it on the table inspecting the other products, turning his back to Kai again.

  
  


Before Kai even got to reply, the kid beat him to it. “You’re still a good kid from my perspective. You’re doing this for Hoshi and his group right?” The way the kid just saw through him easily made Kai unable to talk so he just nodded. “Well, it’s partly my fault that all of you had to suffer. But now that I’m here we’ll support each other like what I did with Hoshi and the previous generations. And I have a plan to change this society for the better without making compromises.”

  
  


The kid took out a bit of the other products Kai didn’t recognize and put it on the table with the first one he took out. He then walked towards Kai and sat at a nearby chair.

  
  


It only took a few minutes to tell Kai an overview of the kid’s plan but that short time greatly changed Kai’s perpective. Now he felt stupid for thinking that ‘ _ There’s no other way to do this than using force and making great sacrifices.’  _ And Kai made sure that he wasn’t controlled or hypnotised by those eyes. When he determined that he could still think clearly and properly weigh the pros and cons of his plan and the probability of it succeeding Kai was able to relax.

  
  


And when he decided that it was a brilliant plan he knew that had a newfound respect for the kid, no– “Should I call you Izuku-sama like boss?”

  
  


He saw him cringe and Kai resisted the urge to laugh because in front of him is since who he deems is his equal or even superior. “Hell no. Call me Izuku and none of that formal crap. Hoshi’s just really uptight like his father. Always remember that I’m not trying to be your boss. I’m more like an external adviser. So you’ll help me with my plan right Kai?”

  
  


The kid– Izuku held out his hand and Kai took it in a handshake. “Of course Izuku. This is also for the better of the Eight Precepts of Death after all.” He raised a brow when he saw the toothy grin of Izuku and he realized.  _ Shit. _

  


“I knew you’d like that name as well.”

  
  


“It’s not the official name yet so don’t get cocky.” Izuku laughed at this. “You should really work on your people skills. It sucks.” Kai frowned at that. This was a problem that he was having before. There was a time he planned to forget about it and just hire villains from the outside but with Izuku here, Kai had a feeling that it wouldn’t be needed. It was good news but that just means that he needs to get back to practicing his smile and fun conversation starters in front of the mirror again.

  
  


Kai dreaded that but he knew deep down that he didn’t really hate it. Izuku must have seen something funny on his face because of the way he laughed his ass off. So he asked “What?”

  
  


Izuku wiped the stray tears from his eyes. “Nothing, you just look so constipated and you reminded me someone I knew recently.” When Izuku got his breath back from laughing he cleared his throat. “Well, can I trust you with the protection of the people I mentioned and stop those human experimentations? You can continue selling the quirk trigger if you want but money isn’t really a problem now that I’m here. I have a lot of connections you know. And I can make the police and heroes to reduce their attention on the precepts.”

  
  


Kai thought about Eri. And saw her terrified face.  _ I did that to her.  _ Then it’s like something heavy suddenly appeared on his shoulders.  _ How... how could have I done those things. Was I really that blinded by my goals?  _ And now, the things Izuku said earlier came back to him.  _ ‘If you’re ready to do anything and everything to reach a goal, you need to be prepared to lose everything else along the way, including your sanity. _ ’

  
  


If Kai had continued, where would he have gotten to? Would he really come to do more inhuman things to such a young girl? Kai felt like a massive idiot. In his desperation, he really couldn’t see anything but his goals. It was no doubt that he would have become insane. If not for Izuku he would have attacked pops and continued torturing Eri. Kai really was just realizing all of this now. And he couldn’t have been more grateful to him. Now he kind of understood pops reactions and interactions with Izuku. Why he had so much respect to this small and inexplicable man in front of him.

  
  


“Thank you.” Kai found himself saying without really meaning to. He saw Izuku’s smile widen and Kai spluttered. “Don’t say anything. And yes, I’ll keep those people safe. And if you want I can even sometimes come in person to watch over them.”

  
  


“Nothing could be better.” Izuku smiled as he got the items he took from the storage and put it in the box together with the acid and held it under his arms. He also took the one he opened earlier, put the lid on and placed it on his pocket.

  
  


“I have to go now since this might not last much longer” He used his free hand to point to his bare and scaled leg and feet. Kai didn’t really understand but he just nodded. Izuku went to the elevator which was one of their emergency exits and Kai wasn’t even surprised that he knew how to open it. Before the elevator opened he faced Kai and smiled.

  
  


“You know, you should spend some time with Hoshi and that Eri girl.” Kai figured that he should get used to Izuku knowing things like that but he was still surprised that he knew what he was worrying about.

  
  


“I have the complete series of Digimon Adventures there. You should watch that with them.” Izuku smiled at him and quickly got on the elevator and was gone in a second. Kai just gaped there still not processing what he was told.

  
  


_ I should really get used to interacting with him huh. _

  
  


Kai really didn’t fully understand Izuku. But Kai really was grateful to him because if it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have found himself here, wearing his black face mask instead of his plague mask, in the office days later frustrated that patamon still isn’t digivolving and excited at seeing what it will be with Eri seated on pop’s lap cheering on Agumon as he digivolves into Greymon.

  
  


Eri is still terrified of him but at least she isn’t trembling at the sight of him now. It’s better than the possibility that Kai thought before, where pops was in comatose, Eri was full of scars and feeling so alone and helpless and Kai without most of the original members of the precept and only with the villains he planned hire and Chrono and Mimicry– no Hari and Joi. He doesn’t plan to be Overhaul anymore. He’s Chisaki Kai, the one who’ll be next to assist Izuku in reaching his goal. 

  
  


He asked for forgiveness from pops right after Izuku left and Kai had tried hard to make up for his mistakes and they’re now slowly mending they’re relationship. Pops also told Kai what Izuku really is and what his ultimate goal really was. Knowing that Izuku was chasing his own death made Kai’s heart heavy with something he didn’t understand. But knowing Izuku’s ultimate goal and how long he’d worked so hard for it made Kai want to support him. The precepts really owed him too much and Kai will do everything he has to help that person.

  
  


“Wahhh! It’s over, the next episode please.” He looked at Eri and she made a squeaking sound and quickly covered her mouth and looked away.

  
  


Kai sighed. “I’ll get it okay? And do you want more snacks?” Eri slowly nodded while looking down. Kai then stood up and went to the laptop connected to the projector and selected the next episode. While the opening played he got the cookies he baked earlier and put it on a plate. Kai brought it back to the room where pops and Eri were singing along to the opening song. He put it on the coffee table in front of them. Eri lit up at seeing this and Kai heard a small ‘Thank you’ from the girl.

  
  


Kai smiled from behind his face mask.  _ Little steps Kai, little steps. _ This is what he tells himself as he moved the mask to eat a cookie.

  
  


_ Hmm delicious. I wonder if Izuku likes chocolate. Eri seems to like them. Oh, and I should let them meet next time. Pops said that he’s fond of kids. _

  
  


Kai felt a bit weird but it wasn’t the bad kind. He looked towards pops and Eri.  _ Yup, this is nice.  _ He thinks as he puts another cookie into his mouth, his black mask forgotten on his lap.

\--

  


“People don’t change that fast. Good thing I made this a long time ago.” Izuku said as he walked on the streets of Musutafu towards Midoriya Izuku’s home.

  
  


He took out that one vial he kept open during the whole conversation with Kai. “Well, this is a drug I made to make people more susceptible to suggestions while breathing in its scent. Whether the changes last or not depends on his very base as a human being, if he really has no good in him then I have no choice but to kill him.” Izuku sighed and put the vial back on the pocket.

  
  


_ I hope things change for the better though.  _ Izuku busies himself thinking about the future of the Eight Precepts of Death, the talk with Toshinori and Naomasa and the entrance exam the next day. Izuku is definitely not distracting himself from what he discovered today. No he isn’t. He isn’t.

  
  


Izuku walked slowly. The small hiccup Izuku made heard only by the street cats, the hunched shoulders only seen by the slowly changing sky, from the dark of night into the light of day. Izuku envied the sky because inside of him was just becoming darker and darker, because the thought of Izuku being human and having human feelings hurt more than the thought of living a thousand years.

  
  
He doesn’t cry this time. Izuku is a monster. That’s the one fact that should never change. It should never change. But the slight tremble in his heart gave him an ominous premonition that says otherwise.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay but there's a very important news that I was waiting for I was really tense this week and didn't have time to write and edit and now that news is coming tomorrow so please pray for meeee.
> 
> Anyway, I love all the comments thank you so much for them and the bookmarks, subscriptions, kudos and just reading this. They really make me sooo happy and I hope you're all enjoying the story so far.
> 
>  
> 
> Next week is the quick talk with tsukauchi and toshinori and (emphasis on quick because) finally we get to U.A!!! It really took us 8 chaps before getting there. Thank you for being patient with me! :D


	9. I Am Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrance exam at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a rant at the end so for now please enjoy.

Seeing a kid drink a vial of something like acid, and it was definitely acid based from what happened next, was not how Toshinori thought he would start the day with.

  


“So yeah...” The kid started after part of his throat and chest closed up. “I can’t die.”

  


The sun slowly rising from the line where the sky met the sea casted a gentle light over the blood drenched kid who had a small smile on his slowly healing mouth whose skin was completely melted off just moments ago. The blood on his face in contrast with his eyes made Toshinori shiver with something very similar to fear like how he felt every time Gran took him to train when he was still at UA.

  


“You...” His close friend, Tsukauchi-kun tried to say something but he was still a bit dazed and who could blame him. Even Toshinori, a Pro-Hero and THE number one hero was close to being sick to his stomach from seeing someone slowly dying in front of him from drinking a very potent acid and said kid acting as of it he was just drinking a cup of coffee.

  


The kid stood up, his bloody torso still caused Toshinori to wince a bit but the hero quickly got himself together. Toshinori then got a clear look at the melting skin slowly healing until they completely closed up. Most of the blood seeped through the sand leaving a big blackish dot on the beach. The kid then went to the shore and used the water to clean some of the leftover blood.

  


“Good thing this is one of the deserted part of Dagobah” Toshinori found hinslef saying to the kid as he walked towards them and to the bag he entrusted to them before all of this started. And from the flow of events Toshinori presumed that inside the bag was a change of clothes.

  


“Of course, I wouldn’t kill myself in front of kids that would be awful even for someone like me.” He said as he started undressing himself in front of them, putting his bloodied clothes in a different plastic bag.

  


“But you’re fine with killing yourself in front of adults.” Tsukauchi-kun deadpanned. He seemed to have recovered from the shock of what they saw.

  


“Nope but I’m fine with killing myself in front of you two specifically.” The kid, Midoriya as Toshino decided to call him, smiled at them like he thought what he said was funny. The look that he and Tsukauchi-kun shared proved that no, they did not find that funny not in the slightest bit.

  


“So... what now?” Tsukauchi-kun asked as Midoriya finally finished dressing up a simple white tee that said ‘shirt’ and an All Might jogging pants.

  


Midoriya gave them a confused look and tilted his head to the side.

  


“I’m going home now, why do you need something else?” Toshinori resisted the urge to gape at what he said and Tsukauchi-kun voiced out his thoughts perfectly.

  


“What do you mean ‘do we need something else?’ you called us here to what? Show us how you drink acid and come out of it alive? That’s it?” He managed to shout-whisper it as he had an incredulous look on his face showing that he wasn’t a hundred percent unaffected from what they just saw and honestly, Toshinori was barely keeping himself composed. Death, as common as it was in their field, was not something Toshinori would grow numb of he knew that it was a fact among every pro hero and the police force he had the pleasure of working in all his years as a All Might.

  


Midoriya gave a small smile and talked patiently, like they were the ones making a ruckus about a trivial matter and he was the adult that explained to them how things in the world work. Tsukauchi-kun didn’t seem to notice the glint in the kid’s eyes but years under the company of his Master, Gran and Nezu, Toshinori has unfortunately been able to notice that bit of amusement in Midoriya’s eyes.

  


“That’s it. And what’s wrong if my only agenda today was for the two of you to see me die? That at least proved that I’m immortal right? Or at least cannot be killed from fatal wounds though I do think they are essentially the same.” Midoriya shrugged and sling the bag over his shoulder and started walking away.

  


“I still have an entrance exam to go to so see you around kids.” Midoriya then slowly walked away.

  


It took them a second to process everything.

  


“This is real right?” Tsukauchi-kun asked him but he was still looking at the direction Midoriya took and Toshinori couldn’t blame him.

  


“I’m afraid so.” He really didn’t want to think right now be he still needed to go to U.A and then arrange things with Nezu and Tsukauchi-kun about what they were to do in preparation for All-for-One.

  


“Holy shit.” It was rare for Toshinori’s friend to curse but he couldn’t help but agree on the sentiment.

  


“Yeah, holy shit.”

  


\--

  


_Well then, this is exciting._ Izuku thought as he was walking the streets leading to U.A with hordes of young aspiring heroes clamouring around. He was now wearing the black school uniform with the addition of his blindfold earning him a few whispers but he wasn’t the most conspicuous there so he didn’t mind.

  


“Get out of the way Deku” Izuku acted to be startled and looked at Katsuki who was walking behind him. They haven’t talked or interacted at all these last few months and Izuku really wasn’t that good with reading people, especially teenagers that deeply so he opted to just let it be and wait for Katsuki to get over his issues with Midoriya Izuku. Izuku didn’t want to butt in and ruin their relationship, or whatever this was, completely.

  


He didn’t say anything and just got out of the way but Katsuki seemed to be irritated at that and spat out a “Don’t stand in front of me. I’ll kill you.”

  


Izuku resisted the urge to smile at that. It was cute and funny how people seem to give out death threats so easily. And how he wish that someone would really be able to kill him but alas, the only one that was remotely capable of doing that was a fucking manipulative psychotic baby with a superiority complex in dire need of the best therapy available, death and Izuku was so ready to give that to poor All-for-One cause he cared after all. Izuku realized that he was spacing out. _Thank fuck I didn’t mumble that again,_ and he saw that Katsuki was looking at him with an undecipherable expression. _What did I do this time?_ Izuku thought with a sigh.

  


Katsuki then glared at him again with renewed vigour and scoffed at him before walking towards U.A. Izuku sighed again and started walking as well. He was about to take another step when he tripped on something. He was about to balance himself when he felt the presence of someone behind him. Deducing what that person was most likely to do, Izuku let himself fall down. Then he felt something touch his nape and he was floating.

  


“Are you alright?” He looked up and saw a cute bubbly girl smiling down at him. She helped him stand straight and he felt the weightlessness leave him.

  


“It’s my Quirk. Sorry if I used it without saying anything.” _It’s most likely activated by touch. It may be under the Gravity Manipulation type of quirk but that’s sure to have some limits maybe on the duration or capacity._ Izuku studied her quirk while she was talking. She said something about bad luck if he fell and _that’s sweet of her_ and then she went ahead before saying,

  


“Let’s do our best. See ya!”

  


Izuku also went ahead and raised a brow when he was seated with Katsuki and it surprised him to see that the angry boy didn’t exchange seats with someone just to not be with Izuku. The Pro Hero Present Mic, who had been in Midoriya Izuku’s Hero Analysis notebook, explained the rules of the entrance exam and he resisted the urge to face palm when he saw that they would be facing robots.

  


Izuku tried listening without rolling his eyes. He then looked at the paper given to them with the outline of the practical exam with the silhouette of four robots with different corresponding points.

  


_Let me guess, that mysterious zero-point robot is a huge piece of scrap metal. And what’s with this kind of entrance exam? Are they all idiots? Ahh who am I kidding, they have Nezu here so none of the faculty here should be incompetent. Then why –_

_  
_

A kid with glasses then stood up and made a fuss about what’s written in the paper about the zero-point robot that was clarified by Present Mic. However, Izuku was startled when the kid turned to him to lecture him about his muttering. Some of the kids laughed and Katsuki acted as if he didn’t exist.

  


_Fuck. What would the kid do in this situation?_ When he remembered he was able to suppress an ‘ahh’ sound of realization.

  


Izuku then acted embarrassed and turned his head at his knees. Eventually things settled down and they went to the humongous room with the fake city for the start of the practical exam. On the ceiling was a hologram image of the sky which was well made and the breeze he felt was really like the wind from the outside.

  


_The perks of being the top hero school on the country huh._

_  
_

He saw the girl earlier and tried to tell her good luck but he was again scolded by the glasses kid and not long after Present Mic’s voice startled the kids and the exam properly started.

  


Izuku has seen chaos in his long life and the scene he saw now... kind of disappointed him. It’s obvious that most of the kids didn’t have any sort of training prior to this day and all they did was use their quirk in their most basic functions. There were a few here and there that showed promise but the number of those in Izuku’s group was so low. All the noise irked him so Izuku went inside a stable building and went up.

  


He then spent a minute just standing on the rooftop of a building looking over everything. He put his blindfold in his pocket while he was running up the stairs. Now, he saw the glasses kid kick his way through the robots and the bubbly girl make the robots float high enough before letting them crash down he also saw someone on another roof using his mutated arms to survey the surroundings. He nodded in approval as he looked over a few other kids and went to look around. The city was big but nothing escaped Izuku’s sight. Despite not using this quirk for many decades, his dragon eyes still felt like a long lost limb that was finally reattached, foreign yet familiar at the same time. Good thing he had ten months to get reacquainted with it again.

  


Izuku knew that time was ticking and when he found what he was looking for he went down the building and spent another two minutes running in that direction, taking a route where there would be less encounter with any student and robot. Izuku would have used the scales that came from his regeneration but he decided against it. He doesn’t need witnesses to his regeneration and scales this early into the game, there are still things that he needs to settle before risking getting All-for-One’s attention.

  


He took a sharp turn while avoiding a two point robot and the kid pursuing it and continued running. There was only five minutes left but Izuku remained calm. He was now at the edge of the replica city-district where he saw a big slit on the wall going up to the high ceiling and this was the only slit in the whole room Izuku saw and he wondered why?

  


_This is one big ass opening. What would even–_ Izuku then remembered the one vague part of the exam.  
_The zero point robot. Of course it was the zero point robot and it’s going be a giant robot. Fuck... Nezu really designed this exam himself, didn’t he?_

_  
_

He had many issues with everything here but he decided he didn’t have the time right now so Izuku went ahead and walked along the wall and went to where he saw where all the small transparent wirings met. He saw these wiring all over the replica city but no one seemed to notice them and it seemed to be made of flexible materials since even when the ground it was laid on was destroyed, the wirings adjusted to the new shape and didn’t snap. If Izuku was right then the wirings were something that were placed for the protection of the students in case something went wrong and they wouldn’t be able to stop the robots from the control room. They put in a way to manually stop the robots from any hypothetical rampage and from Izuku’s observation the wirings were there for that purpose.

  


He put his hands over the place where all the wirings met and was pleasantly surprised to feel a small bump in the wall. There was only three minutes remaining and Izuku looked at a hidden camera near him that was set to observe the students and smiled.

  


_This wasn’t hard to find at all. Are you losing your edge Nezu?_ Izuku thought as he clenched his hands and slammed it on the bump.

  


As expected of an emergency off switch, it was easy to break and a loud sound covered the whole replica city.

  


Then a loud crashing sound was heard all throughout the giant room. Izuku looked around and saw all the robots falling over and stopped moving. After the alarm ended silence filled the replica city.

  


\--

  


In the observation room for the entrance exam sat all the Pro Hero staff and the Pro Hero teaching at U.A. They watched in fascination as they saw aspiring U.A students destroy robots and a few people helping other students.

  


“We seem to have a good set of students this year don’t you think?” Nezu said cheerfully as he sipped his tea. The Pro Heroes hummed in agreement and still kept looking at the screen, especially the ones handling the first year classes.

  


_I can’t blame them. There really are many promising students overall._ Nezu thought with a smile.

  


“These new kids are really something huh? Especially the explosion kid in the ‘battle center A’, right Shouta?” Hizashi-kun or Present Mic happily said to Aizawa-kun who just grunted in reply.

  


But towards the end of the exam Nezu noticed something odd in ‘battle center B’. Someone was approaching the emergency measure they’ve put in each battle center and was clearly going towards it as if the student knew was there which was impossible since it couldn’t be seen without the aid of a special kind of goggles made by him and the head of the support department.

  


He noticed Toshinori also looking intently at the boy and it instantly clicked in Nezu’s head.

  


_It’s him._ Nezu felt sweat forming on his head. _If it’s really him then that would explain how he found out about that. Nothing really escapes what he sets his mind on._

_  
_

It seemed that his movements caught the attention of some of the observers and started paying attention to him as well. And when he was directly in front of it, he looked at the camera like he saw the small contraption easily and knew it was there the whole time and smiled.

  


Nezu shuddered and felt an itch of a challenge being issued to him from that expression and couldn’t help but smile himself.

  


_Don’t think that I was serious when I thought that up._ Thoughts on how he could have had made that better filled his head. But he didn’t miss the gasps that escaped the watching heroes and smiled in amusement when the student slammed his fist on the wall, easily destroying the thin and transparent wirings.

  


“How did he–?” The rest of the question wasn’t heard since the blaring alarm surrounded the office and the whole ‘battle center B’ and all the robots stopped functioning.

  


The heroes looked freaked out but no one outwardly panicked.

  


_Good. It won’t help if you lose your cool over something like this._ Nezu approved in his head.

  


“Please release the zero point robot on ‘battle center B’ override the command brought by the emergency command. And please up its specs higher than the usual.” One of the staffs assigned for the villain robots in B nodded and started her work.

  


“We really seem to have a good set of students this year don’t you think?” Nezu sipped on his tea again and now all the other heroes looked at him and slowly nodded before turning their full attention to ‘battle center B’.

  


\--

  


After hitting the bundle of wirings, Izuku ran as fast as he can away from the slit on the wall. He knew they’d send out the giant robot as soon as the other robots stop working and he knew he was right when he felt the ground shaking.

  


But when he looked back he only saw a flash of a big something going his way.

  


_Fuck, Nezu’s as competitive as ever I see._

_  
_

Izuku was able to react quickly and got out of the way thanks to his eyes but because of that a piece of rubble from a building fell down and caused a student to trip on their feet.

  


The robot turned around to face him and was now proceeding slowly towards Izuku.

  


Every other student started running away and Izuku was about to do the same but then he saw that the bubbly girl earlier seemed to have hurt her ankle and looked scared for her life as she watched the robot come closer. Izuku sighed and ran towards the girl. She seemed surprised seeing him there and asked with panic.

  


“What are you doing here?!” Izuku raised his brow at this. He didn’t look at her to avoid distracting her with his eyes and replied with “You’re hurt aren’t you?”

  


He saw the girl nod from his peripheral vision. “So I’m helping you of course.” He lifted her and carried her piggy back style with her arms around his neck. “I’m not trying to make a move on you though please don’t misunderstand.”

  


“WHAT?!” She shrieked.

  


Izuku suppressed a laugh.

  


“I mean I’m not doing this to gain an advantage over you on the exam”

  


“Wha- what are you-” Izuku cut her off. “Why what did you think I was saying?” He said with his innocent voice and hearing her incoherent splutters Izuku couldn’t help but laugh aloud. He felt a slap on his back.

  


“You jerk! That was on purpose wasn’t it? That was unnecessarily flirty.” She asked with a hint of shocked exasperation and slight laughter in her voice.

  


“You’re calm now aren’t you? Then it wasn’t.” Izuku shrugged his shoulders. When he saw the robot come closer he shouted over the increasing noise. 

  


“Let’s talk later! For now let’s get out of here.”

  


“Can you do something to help us here right? You can’t expect me to do all the work here.”

  


He heard a bubbly laughter behind her and she said “Yup I can make us lighter to make it easier to run and thanks flirty hero.” He rolled his eyes as he felt his clothes and the girl become lighter and he replied with a smile. “You’re welcome easily-flustered hero.”

  


They laughed as they ran away. “What kind of hero name is that? Watch out there’s a big piece of rock there.” Izuku just ran straight. He saw the debris that was big enough to block the street.

  


“Better than the name you gave me. And please float that for a moment to let us go through and after that, bring it down again to make it an obstacle for the robot.” He looked behind real quick to see the robot pick up a bit of speed leaving a trail of debris in his path.

  


“For something that big I don’t think it would do much.” But despite that he felt her uncurl one of her arm from his neck and saw it stretch forward.

  


“We’re not really trying to outrun it. We just need to kill time without us being killed. There’s still at least two minutes left.”

  


“Wow that’s smart flirty hero.” She laughed as they reached the debris and she touched it and Izuku slipped through and she then cancelled her quirk and they continued getting away until the time ran out.

  


During that time, they managed to help another three students who were stuck using the girl’s quirk. They were having fun while running away from the robot that was only suspiciously following Izuku and the girl but they still managed to survive until time ran out. However by the end of the exam the girl fainted from quirk exhaustion but not before almost puking all over Izuku who thankfully only has to wash his shoes.

  


Izuku with the assistance of a nurse bot managed to bring the girl to the nurse’s office which was surprisingly empty. Turns out, Recovery Girl was on the field healing injuries there.

  


But not long after he placed her on the bed and sat down on the chair next to it, the door was abruptly opened by someone and he turned to see a bot which said in a robotic voice. “Examinee Number 2234 please follow me. Principal Nezu and the other U.A staff and teachers are expecting you. Recovery Girl is already on her way here so please follow me.”

  


Izuku looked at another small hidden camera at the side and looked at it for a second before looking at the girl and back at the camera. _Hopefully they got what I mean. But then again, she is really safe in here isn’t she?_ He put on his blindfold and stood up.

  


Izuku then sighed and followed the bot out the door and into the halls that led to a big door. When he went inside the light was dim and in front of him were people’s silhouettes sitting on their chairs. There was a lone chair at the end of the table and Izuku presumed that was where he was supposed to sit.

  


He looked around again before sitting down. _Aren’t they trying too hard? Should I say ‘mood’ to lighten the atmosphere? But if I did use the word ‘mood’ here would I be using it right? How do I use it again? Is it still in or is it a ‘dead meme’ already? Is even the use of the word ‘mood’ a meme? What’s a meme again? Damn, I need to read google when I get home and study it again._

_  
_

“Ehem.” Izuku looked up to see the light in the room brighten and he saw the faces of Toshinori, Nezu and all the other Pro Heroes.

  


_The room is bright now and they aren’t trying too hard anymore so I can’t use the word ‘mood’ now. Too bad._ Izuku suppressed a pout at this.  
“Can I please ask why I was called here?” Izuku looked at Nezu and he noticed that the other heroes sans Toshinori were intrigued by his calm demeanor.

  


Nezu looked very happy and said. “Well, there seems to be a concern about the score that we should give you. Some are saying that you should get the highest possible score we can give while some say that you may have cheated your way into getting an advantage in the exam.”

  


Izuku made a shocked expression and then knitted his brows for their sake. He acted breathing deep to ‘regain’ his cool. He then looked them each in the eyes, well from their perspectives they were looking at his blindfold but the point still stands.

  


“You called me here to explain myself and decide if I really cheated or not.” Nezu seemed to have caught on the charade since he replied with a smile.

  


“Why yes Midoriya Izuku. You seem like a smart and observant kid. Can that be part of the reason how you did what you did?” Izuku couldn’t help but smile. _Ahhh, I missed playing games like these with Nezu._

_  
_

“You mean how I stopped all the villain robots from functioning right?” On the inquisitive gazes of the heroes, Izuku continued.

  


“Well, if you didn’t already check, my quirk lets me see things clearly and no I don’t have x-ray vision but I can see through any obstruction close to my eyes like my eyelids, blindfold, glasses or shades if I want to. And I saw those wirings littered everywhere and followed it all under a minute. As to how I did it so quickly, my answer would be months of quirk training. And I say months and not years cause I am a late bloomer and just got my quirk approximately ten months ago.” Some of them were gaping but Izuku continued.

  


“I assumed the wirings were something like an emergency off switch in the event that something unexpected happens. I was sure that it was indeed that because I couldn’t think of anything else that could serve as an off switch and the possibility that you didn’t have an emergency off switch was just so low that I took the risk.” He shrugged by the end and stood up.

  


“If you still decide to believe that I was somehow cheating then I would accept that wholeheartedly and enrol in another hero school since I wouldn’t want to enter a school with such poor judgement.” It was dead silent after he said that.

  


_Was that too much?_ Izuku thought for a second before he shrugged internally. _Well, I wasn’t really lying though._ He sighed and said. “Dear respectable people, do you still have any questions for me?”

  


No one said anything so he shrugged before turning to leave. He was almost out the door when he heard an exasperated sigh and a tired and sarcastic “A problem child great.”

  


Izuku felt a smile tug at his lips and he went out the door.

  


When he got to the infirmary the girl wasn’t there anymore but there was a note there saying ‘My parents were looking for me so I had to go and recovery girl said that you be busy for a while so here Uraraka Ochako add me on facebook okay?  or else I’ll get angry :< haha thanks again flirty hero!’

  


Izuku smiled and took the paper. No one else was inside the infirmary so Izuku decided to go home.

  


\--

  


A week later an article was trending on all social media sites all over Japan about the student who got the highest possible score on U.A history and even Japan’s history since the establishment of the hero school system.

  


‘Midoriya Izuku from Aldera Junior High is making waves all over japan after receiving 100 villain points and 100 rescue points and an additional 50 points for a total of 250 points in the U.A Practical exam and another 100 points for the written exam.

  


People were freaking out since the average high score for all schools in Japan is 95 points including both hero and rescue points. Not to mention the additional points which were unheard of which meant that even the highest score wasn’t enough for his evaluation. The written exam only seemed to emphasize the point that we may be witnessing the start of a once in a century genius?

  


Read more’

  


And here was Katsuki in front of Izuku in an alleyway one morning during Izuku’s jog route waiting for his reaction after giving him Katsuki’s phone that contained the article.

  


“Well?” Katsuki growled out.

  


Izuku got what Katsuki wanted to ask

.

“Well... I kind of stopped all the remaining robots in our area Kacchan.” Katsuki seemed ready to use his quirk on him and shout bloody murder but the left hand inside his pocket gripped something hard and he took deep breaths while cursing loudly. After a minute, Katsuki was still seething and shaking but he wasn’t attacking and the glare he set Izuku prompted him to continue.

  


“Ahh and I was able to do that because I saw those thin wirings around which no one else was able to see and I found where it was all connected. I figured it was something like an emergency mechanism that stops all the robots at once. It was the most logical conclusion considering the situation so I took the gambit. I broke the place where all the wirings met and it worked. Maybe they considered the fact that it all was done under ten minutes despite the pressure of the exam but I do think that they went too far and the media isn’t really helping either.”

  


Izuku was concerned when Katsuki didn’t say anything.

  


“Do you think I cheated Kacchan?” Izuku started with a small voice but before he could say anything else he was cut off by the explosion in Katsuki’s hand and he saw a slightly charred orange stress ball fall to the ground and saw Katsuki’s venomous glare directed at him.

  


_The stress ball is fire resistant that’s clever._

_  
_

“Fuck you you useless piece of shit. Do you think I’m dumb enough to think that you have the balls to do something stupid like that? Don’t fucking insult me. You just got lucky with that wiring shit. Fuck! If it wasn’t for that I would have been in first place and you would have been licking at my feet in second place you fucking nerd.”

  


_Oh, so he believes me that’s unex– Wait..._

_  
_

“You said I would be second place? You thought I would be second place even without the thing with the robots?” Izuku asked with an ecstatic expression. He felt happiness build in his chest.

  


Meanwhile Katsuki looked like he ate something bad.

  


“Don’t fucking twist my words nerd! Don’t get complacent from all the attention you’re getting I’m still gonna be number one ya hear me fucking nerd! You’re just gonna be my stepping stone towards my goal.” Katsuki then smirked. “Be thankful for that opportunity nerd.” He said before turning around and walking away with heavy stomps.

  


Izuku however was feeling happy at the upgrade. “From being a pebble I’m a stepping stone now. Go Izuku fighting.” He whispered as he also went out of the alleyway and going home from his trip to the market. Izuku tried to be oblivious to the commotion his name was making to the teachers, the students of U.A and other people for his piece of mind.

_  
_

_I’m prepared for almost anything anyway. For now I want to eat Katsudon. This is celebration for my short term goal. It was also a good way of telling the world what I wanted to convey._

  


Izuku reached their apartment and went inside.

  


“I’m here!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there. First of all I apologize for not updating for how many months. So here’s my excuse, remember that good news I was waiting for? Well I got it and I spent the next months putting my life back together and it’s going good if anyone want to ask. Well other than that, I was just too busy and I can’t really right anything satisfying until days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. But I still read your comments and it gives me happiness on bad days and makes me happier on good days. With the little free time I have I only have time to read other fics and such. And please know that this fic will never be abandoned I was only waiting another month before I got a break from what I was doing before updating but since I got a break due to an intense migraine (which I’ve had for months now ugh) I decided to write this now in one sitting (can it be called that if I was laying down instead of sitting? Idk.) And thus, I have an excuse for the mistakes in this chapter lol. But on a serious but unrelated note, it’s okay to work hard but always take care of your health okay? Well then, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please know that I love this fic and everyone who has read and liked this so I will finish this no matter what. I’m sorry I can’t reply to the previous comments since yeah migraine but please know I appreciate and love all of them.
> 
> And yasss I manage to come to the entrance exam yaaaasssss. Thank you for those who read, commented, bookmarked and left kudos I love you all.


	10. Izuku on U.A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nineteen Students and one teacher, nothing Izuku can't handle right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning Mineta is here

After the article spread throughout Japan, Izuku’s life had been a series of hiding from his schoolmates besides from the time spent on the remaining days of classes. Sometimes strangers would come up to him and ask if he was the kid who was in the news and Izuku would smile politely and say that they were mistaken, the blindfold helping a lot since the picture they showed on many media outlets was when he was still sealed so what everyone saw a timid green haired kid with nervous green eyes and an awkward smile. The kid that was a hundred times better than what was in this body now. Everyone was admiring the image of Midoriya Izuku as they should and everyone who talked favourably about him on the internet thinking of the kid’s face appeased some of Izuku’s guilt.

 

_But this isn’t enough. I need to prepare everything for what I have in mind after killing All-for-One._

 

Izuku shook his head and slapped his palms on his cheeks. _Focus on what’s in front of me while keeping the big picture in the background. I don’t need to rush I have all the time in the world._

 

He proceeded on tying the laces in his bright red shoes and smiling at it as it again reminded him of Midoriya Izuku.

 

“Izuku!? Did you pack some tissues?”

 

“Yes Mom.”

 

“What about your hanky? You can’t leave without the hanky, dear!”

 

“I have the hanky Mom.”

 

“I still have some time huh?” Izuku said as he looked at his phone. He didn’t sleep so being late isn’t a problem for him at all.

 

“Izuku!” He turned around to see the teary-eyed Inko.

 

“Yes Mom?” Izuku knows what she wants to say so his smile is Midoriya Izuku’s youthful, bright and human smile.

 

“You’re mega cool right now.” Inko smiled at him. Izuku remained smiling and nodded as he opened the door.

 

“See you later Mom.” Izuku went out while keeping the smile on his face while putting on his blindfold.

 

_Acting is really hard and I still have to do it in U.A_

 

He took out his phone and sent a ‘Good morning! See you later at school :D’ to Ochako. They’ve talked a lot over the phone lately and they became somewhat close friends.

 

However Izuku does need to remember not to call her or anyone else for that matter with their first names. It was habit of Izuku since a long time ago and like Midoriya’s muttering, it just doesn’t seem to want to go away.

 

Despite everything he has to do Izuku is still ecstatic to finally have a chance to talk to Nezu inside U.A so he took a big sigh and smiled as much as he can.

 

_I can do this._

  
\--

 

“Are you kidding me?” Was what Shouta first said when he saw the scores given to the problem child by Nezu and the other heroes.

 

They all responded with their justifications on why Midoriya Izuku deserved that and more due to his quick thinking and excellent execution with composure that’s rarely seen in someone his age.

 

They said things like ‘He’s a gem Aizawa-san. How can you evaluate him with something less than the perfect score?’ ‘He’s ahead of his peers and may be on par with the third years and maybe even some pro-heroes’ and many other things that made Shouta internally cringe just from the sheer absurdity of the situation.

 

They were overcompensating and overestimating the kid and even if the boy really did live up to the hype, inflating the teenager’s ego is not doing him any favours in the values formation department.

 

Shouta turned to Nezu for his input but the principal just gave him an amused smile and he instantly knows he’s not getting anything from the not-man. Shouta heaved a big sigh.

 

“I understand what you’re saying but do we really have to hype this kid up so much to everyone?”

 

“I don’t really see what’s so bad about it.” Nemuri, or Midnight as she liked to be called during work hours, said from the chair adjacent to him. She holds up two fingers in a peace sign before continuing as if having different opinions on work related things would sour their friendship. Shouta rolls his eyes and Nemuri smiles. “The kid really is something else so wouldn’t it be interesting to see how he would cope with all the attention from everyone around him?”

 

“I don’t think unnecessarily pressuring him even before he starts high school is a good thing.” Shouta says while looking for any change in the demeanour of their principal but the unsettling smile was still there.

 

“We all agree that this kid is something and when I say something I mean SOMETHING, right?” That received nods from everyone in the room including Shouta’s miniscule head movement. “So isn’t it good to see how he reacts with these kinds of things early on because no one can make me believe that this kid wouldn’t make waves in the hero industry sooner or later.” Another bout of nods came. “Sooo, putting the kid in these situations in a time where we can monitor and guide him is better for references in teaching him later on. If he buckles under the pressure then its fine that just means he’s more human and kid-like than we thought.”

 

At that, Shouta noticed the shift in Nezu’s demeanour. It wasn’t much but Shouta could still see it even for just a second before it was gone. He could be wrong but he was pretty sure he saw sadness on Nezu’s face.

 

“IF HE DOES LIVE UP TO THE HYPE THEN WE HAVE ONE HELL OF A STUDENT AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT?”

 

“Shut up Hizashi.” Shouta says while massaging his temples. He then looked at Nemuri and frowned.

 

“Fine.” He says and she beams at that.

 

“This would also be good for the other students since they would have someone to look up to and serve as their competition”

 

“I knew you’d come around Shouta-kun.” Nemuri said with a flying kiss to which Shouta ignores with a roll of his eyes. Nezu still observed them with a smile until the meeting was finally adjourned.

 

The article came out days after that and the reaction of the people were as expected. All eyes were with Midoriya Izuku now.

 

And now was the first day of school and it was almost time to start. He slowly walked towards the 1-A classroom with his favourite yellow sleeping bag in one hand and his phone with the live feed from the security camera in the classroom in the other with earphones to hear what was happening.

 

He just saw Bakugou Katsuki arguing with Iida Tenya about desks and the other students quietly sitting in their chairs and others excitedly chatting with their seatmates. It was a typical classroom scene for the first years but then the door opened and inside came a face that almost everyone updated with the hero community knew, only this one was in its blindfold version. The air in the room tensed.

 

The problem child smiled and waved hesitantly.

 

Silence filled the room and after a tense second the Bakugou kid made a loud noise with his quirk and got everyone’s attention.

 

“The fuck is wrong with you extras. The blindfold too kinky for your prudey asses?” That earned him a few gasps from some, raised brows from other and blank stares from those that just didn’t care.

 

“That’s not nice Kacchan.” The problem child said with a smile and tone that seemed fond.

 

Shouta noted the fact that the two came from the same middle school. _The two might be good friends._

 

“Fuck off. I wasn’t talking to you, was I?” Bakugou then sent Midoriya a glare and the middle finger before seemingly ignoring his existence and the rest of the classroom, opting to glare the scenery outside the window instead.

 

“Of course.” Midoriya said with his hands in the air in a placating gesture.

 

Before the class was again submerged in silence, the door was opened and in came Uraraka Ochako, the one who was helped by Midoriya. And from what Shouta saw she became friends with the problem child during the exams.

 

“Midoriya-kun!” He turned around and smiled at her.

 

“Good morning O–raraka-san” She pouted and said “You know that no matter how many times you act to mispronounce my name I still won’t agree to give you the copy of that magazine that has All Might’s interview on it.”

 

The problem child just smiled at this.

 

“You can just tear off the page with the picture of that hero you’ve got a crush on and give me the rest you know.”

 

Uraraka raised her brow and put her hand on her waist.

 

“Why can’t I just tear the page with the interview and give it to you?” Izuku took a big sigh at this.

 

“It’s five pages and as I said before no because you just can’t tear off All Might’s interview in the magazine because it’s All Might.” He gave a triumphant smile like he just won the argument. Urakaka took a deep tired breath.

 

“’Because it’s All Might’ is not a valid reason. And even if we say that it is my answer is still no.” She gave Midoriya a stern glare for a second before breaking out in a giggle which the problem child quickly joined.

 

Then a red haired kid approached the two of them. “Hey there! Did you two come from the same middle school? You seem to be pretty close I’m Kirishima Eijirou by the way.” Shouta noticed the Bakugou kid started glaring at their direction but didn’t say anything else.

 

Midoriya shook his head and said with a little laughter. “Oh no that’s me and Kacchan.” He said while pointing at Bakugou who was looking angrier by the second. “We became friends during the entrance exam and stayed connected even after that.”

 

Kirishima made an ‘o’ face and smiled right afterwards. “That’s cool! And I was in the same room as the two of you and you even saved me once when you were running away from that zero point robot so thanks for that!” Sharp white teeth were shown and Midoriya beamed with his own smile.

 

“Really? I’m sorry I don’t really remember seeing you there hehe” Uraraka showed a bashful expression.

 

“Oh that’s okay! I looked different that day so I won’t really expect anyone to remember me.”

 

“Oh yeaahh he looked sooo different now. He was so cute before it’s kind of a waste really.” Shouta saw Ashido Mina join in the conversation while pointing her thumb to Kirishima.

 

Midoriya was looking at Kirishima’s face intently before making an ‘oh!’ sound catching the attention of the three and those who was secretly listening in on their conversation.

 

“I didn’t recognize you because of your hair! You had dark hair before and didn’t style it like that.” Ashido winked at him while doing finger guns, Uraraka seemed to be working hard at remembering Kirishima and Kirishima himself was scratching the back of his neck bashfully and before he could say anything to that Midoriya spoke again.

 

“You really did look cute and pretty then.” He said while nodding to himself while Uraraka grinned, Ashido shrieked while shaking Kirishima by the shoulders and Kirishima’s ears turned as red as his hair.

 

“Not to say that you’re not cute and pretty now but right now I think the word...” Midoriya really seemed to think hard “Manly fits you better.”

 

Shouta raised his brow at the screen. He didn’t think that Kirishima couldn’t be redder but he was mistaken.

 

Kirishima wasn’t able to say anything again because Iida went towards the two of them with a serious look on his face.

 

“Hello I’m Iida Tenya from Soumei–"

 

“Oh I already heard from your conversation with Kacchan. I’m Midoriya nice to meet you Iida-kun” The kid smiled at him.

 

Shouta took off his earphones when he was a corner away from the classroom. He looked around to see if anyone was there and there wasn’t so he started putting on his sleeping bag. He saw on the screen that Iida was saying something and bowing to Midoriya who seemed surprised but didn’t let it show in his face and said something with a smile that made Iida rise and give a small smile of his own to the problem child. The tension in the class seemed to have dissipated and the students were to talking to each other. Some seemed to have wanted to talk to Midoriya but didn’t see the opportunity to do so.

 

The kid was different from what Shouta expected although it’s still too early to jump to any conclusions.

 

When he was lying on the floor in his sleeping bag, he put is phone and his earphones inside a pocket in his sleeping bag and started to crawl. He heard Uraraka when he was closer to the door.

 

“Hi I’m Uraraka Ochako your Iida-kun right? Nice to meet you. I wonder if we’re gonna have the opening ceremony today. Oh, and what would do you think our teacher would be like?”

 

_I guess that’s my cue._ Shouta wormed his was to the door and when he was behind them he put on his tired face.

 

_This is how you make a proper first impression._ He thinks to himself.

 

“If you want to play friends then don’t do it here. This is the department of heroics.” Silence filled the room and Shouta was satisfied with the reaction so he smoothly stood up and took off his sleeping bag and stepped inside the classroom.

 

He introduced himself and did his usual spiel for the first year class and the freedom that is usually given to the teachers. And they then proceeded to the P.E grounds for his yearly quirk apprehension test after they changed into their P.E uniforms. He explained the mechanics of the tests and had the Bakugou boy give a demonstration with the softball pitch considering his quirk and the irritation in his demeanour that never left his being after the antics of Midoriya and co.

 

As expected, the kid did good being the second in the exam and having a naturally strong offensive quirk. The other kids were chattering amongst themselves and talked about how much fun the test seemed. Kirishima and Ashido was with Kaminari Denki and Sero Hanta while Middoriya was with Uraraka and Iida.

 

_Typical first years._ Shouta sighed in his head but before he could say anything the problem child started talking.

 

“It really does look fun doesn’t it?” Midoriya was talking to Uraraka and Iida but the rest of the class stopped talking and started listening in. The kid didn’t seem to notice and if he did he didn’t let it show.

 

“But even if it looks fun let’s still do our best, we’re aiming to be heroes after all right?” He smiled at the two who nodded with a serious and a smiling expression respectively. The rest of the class seemed to sober up from the excitement and their expression became a little bit more serious.

 

“We can take note of how we can use our quirks on the different tests and after this we can talk about what we think of each other’s quirks over ice cream later. Are you guys okay with that?” The problem child asked his two classmates with the other students still listening in.

 

“Yeah Midoriya-kun that sounds great!” Uraraka jumped from excitement with a wide smile.

 

“Are you okay with including me too?” Iida stood straighter as he asked.

 

“Of course Iida-kun” Came Uraraka and Midoriya’s bubbly and happy reply.

 

“Well then it’s my pleasure to go with you as long as we all get home before dark.” Iida adjusted his glasses with one hand and chopping the air with the other.

 

Midoriya beamed at them. “Okay then it’s a date!” The two seemed a bit flustered but then returned the smile to the problem child. The other students resumed to doing their own thing after that. Bakugou however was glaring at the three students for a moment before he reached in his pocket and steadied his breathing. Shouta raised his brow.

 

He was still a bit dumbfounded with what he just witnessed but he woke up when the problem child turned to him and smiled.

 

_I guess I didn’t need any logical ruses after all._

 

“It’s still just a test no need to be so uptight sheesh the genius of the century’s just trying too hard” Mineta Minoru mumbled from under his breath.

 

_Well then..._

 

“It seems like some of you aren’t taking this seriously. What happened to being heroes?” His students looked at him not knowing what to expect.

 

“Well then how about we make this like a game. It will be game over for the student that ranks last in the total point and will be instantly expelled.”

 

As expected everyone was surprised but they didn’t really had any choice so they started doing the tests.

 

Shouta was still mildly impressed when he started the tests. And that state of Shouta didn’t drop because the first years did better than expected. They were serious and motivated but still had fun, albeit being pressured by the possible expulsion and that seemed to boost their drive to do well in the tests.

 

Although the result of one student did surprise Shouta. Midoriya Izuku while not doing bad in the test, especially in the endurance run where he came in third and when he noticed others had stopped and there was only three of them he immediately stopped, the rest of his results were just slightly above average. Normally, this would be a good result to start with but after his performance in the entrance exam Shouta couldn’t help but expect more from the boy. Midoriya even seemed kind of frustrated.

 

“I really did like what you said in the start of the test but this is a little disappointing.” He looked towards the kid with a bashful smile on his blindfolded face. “Midoriya Izuku.”

 

The kid just kept a small smile on his face and that just irritated Shouta more. He understands the nature of the exam itself was disadvantageous to people with quirks like Midoriya and he wasn’t even in the last place but the fact that he didn’t seem to put much effort in the test, as he did in the entrance exam, didn’t sit well with him.

 

“Excluding the endurance run all of your other results are normal it’s like you didn’t even try.” The other students just looked quietly at Midoriya and Shouta.

 

Midoriya stood a bit straighter and smiled at Shouta the blindfold making it harder for Shouta to read the kid.

 

“I don’t think my results were that bad right?”

 

One student, Mineta Minoru started talking with a mock whispering voice.

 

“I guess the genius of the century wasn’t really that great after all.” He hears the short grape kid snicker.

 

Midoriya didn’t seem to mind and just smiled wider and he started to talk.

 

“I’m not really a genius like what everyone seems to think. I just got lucky in the exam and then everyone just started exaggerating my abilities.”  His smile became smaller and a bit less bright. “There are things I can’t do you know.” Shouta sensed something behind those words but he didn’t know what it was.

 

It was quiet for a moment before one of his students spoke up with a bang.

 

“You tried being in last place didn’t you Deku?” Bakugou growled as he marched forward while glaring murderously at Midoriya.

 

When Midoriya just looked in the ground not saying anything, explosions were set from Bakugou’s hands and he propelled himself to the problem child. He didn’t seem really intent on harming him so Shouta just watched.

 

Bakugou stopped when he was in front of Midoriya and took a hold of the front of his shirt.

 

“I thought you changed when you got that fucking quirk but I guess you’re still that piece of shit that liked looking down on people.” Bakugou spat out. This made Midoriya raise his head and look Bakugou in the eyes.

 

“I just didn’t want anyone to be expelled in the first day Kacchan and I thought that because” Bakugou’s hold on the shirt tightened.

 

“What? You thought that just because you were first in the exam they wouldn’t expel you? You fucking idiot! You’d endanger your chance in U.A just because of some extras you don’t even know?!” He was starting to lift Midoriya off the ground but Midoriya just calmly looked at him.

 

“I did it because I know that they really wouldn’t expel me. That would be counterproductive for the image of U–”

 

“FUCK YOU AND YOUR REASONS DEKU! You don’t think! Just because there was a chance they wouldn’t expel you, you fucking chose to try and get last place instantly! Don’t you have even the slightest brain cell to think about yourself or do you really see yourself above everyone here huh?” The shouting quieted but that calm anger in the boy’s voice seemed to speak his anger louder. His blindfold came a bit loose, rested on his nose and his right eye was exposed. Everyone including Shouta gasped. Midoriya blink and made a serious expression.

 

“I already told you Katsuki” Bakugou’s flinch was almost imperceptible but Shouta noticed it. He looked at Midoriya but he wasn’t able to read him and something about that troubled Shouta. No teenager should be that unreadable.

 

“I have never looked down on anyone and I am not looking down on anyone now.” Midoriya’s tone was firm and his gaze was paralyzing but Bakugou didn’t back down he stared back and steadied his voice.

 

“Then prove it and never try to hold back ever again” He violently let go of Midoriya and stomped away.

 

Everyone seemed to be in some kind of daze. First, from what just happened second, from the behaviour of both Midoriya and Bakugou and lastly, from looking at Midoriya’s exposed eye.

 

But Shouta immediately woke up and processed the information. Midoriya tried to come in last place and Bakugou immediately noticed it and confronted Midoriya because of it and he didn’t even seem apologetic for it. Did Midoriya have a superiority complex? It was the first time he’s seen something so ridiculous from a student. He couldn’t help but heave a deep breath.

 

_Are you kidding me?_

 

\--

 

After that Shouta or Aizawa-sensei, as Izuku had been practicing in his mind so as to not accidentally call his teacher with his first name, tiredly told them that it was just a ‘logical ruse’ to make them do their best and that no one was getting expelled. Tooru and Minoru _no wait, Hagakure and Mineta_ cried in relief for they tied in last place. Izuku was confused since he was sure Aizawa-sensei wasn’t lying when he said that. He was familiar with All-for-One so he was sensitive to lies. That just meant that Aizawa-sensei took back what he said last minute because he didn’t want to expel anyone. Izuku smiled at this thought.

 

They were dismissed and they went to their classroom. Mi– Ashido and Kirishima gave him a pat on the shoulder and a consoling smile while Uraraka and Iida asked him if he was okay and complained how Katsuki, no he is not calling him Kacchan even in his head, was overreacting.

 

Some of them went to him and said that they appreciated the sentiment but it wasn’t really needed and that they’d like to be friends and talk about their quirks. He also said sorry to the whole class if any of them felt that he was looking down on them and no one really took it seriously some even joked that it would have been funny if the ‘genius of the century’ was expelled on the first day.

 

On that end, Izuku was successful in making that title not matter in the eyes of his classmates. Some even began teasing him with it. He thought it was going to take longer but he was fortunately wrong.

 

Katsuki, however, ignored him the whole day but Izuku knew better than to force him to talk.

 

_Why is he still so mad? I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t looking down on him or anyone._

 

Izuku sighed again for the nth time today.

 

“Are you still on for ice cream Midoriya-kun?” Uraraka asked him when they were going out the door.

 

“I don’t think I can today. I have to apologize to Aizawa-sensei so maybe tomorrow?”

 

They both nodded and Iida added while chopping the air.

 

“It’s good that you’ve thought of that. I was at first a bit offended that you tried taking last place but you seemed to have reflected fully and is taking responsibility for your actions. You really have qualities of a great hero Midoriya-kun.”

 

“Thank you guys” Izuku smiled and sprinted away towards the faculty room. Midoriya already memorized the layout of every building in U.A so getting lost isn’t an issue. He successfully manage to come to Aizawa-sensei and apologize and the man just waved him off saying that as long as he didn’t do it again he didn’t mind. Although for someone who claims to not care the small sigh of relief that escaped his teacher when he apologized wasn’t helping him be convincing.

 

He said goodbye and he was about to go home someone greeted him at the hall.

 

“Hello Midoriya Izuku nice bumping into you here.” Nezu smiled at him.

 

“Hello Principal Nezu what a nice coincidence.” Izuku bowed a little.

 

“Come. I want to ask the genius of the century how his first day at U.A was. Let’s talk at my office.” Nezu turned around and lead Izuku to his office.

 

“Of course Principal. It would be great to have a conversation with you.”

 

With that the two of them went down the halls into Nezu’s office where a conversation that was delayed for decades was finally about to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this was late but shit happened but it was resolved and now I think I can post again tomorrow evening (it's evening here now btw) and the next coming days. Nothing really happened this chapter but Nezu's conversation that was supposed to be here was moved because it would be too long and I like the chaps to be consistent in length as much as possible.
> 
> I don't think I'd be able to reply to the comments again but please know that I read them over and over and I love all of you so much especially those that was here since this fic began. I'm really sad that I'm not able to reply personally to the comments but I'm shit at time management and I can't find time to reply. Im working on it tho.
> 
> Once again thank you for all that read this fic, left kudos, bookmarked and commented. I really love you people I hope you're all alright :D


	11. Izuku is a Good and Sane Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku, despite everything, is starting to have fun.

Izuku and Nezu sat opposite to each other while they drank tea. It had been five minutes since they sat down but none of them had said anything yet. Izuku downed the last of his tea and put his cup on the table beside his blindfold. He took a deep breath.

 

“All-for-One...” Izuku wanted to start but Nezu put up his paw stopping Izuku from continuing.

 

“Let’s not talk about him right away it might spoil our reunion and the taste of the tea.” Nezu look at him through the rim of his cup. _Ahhh so he’s not at his ‘I’m an animal who’s smarter than you’ mode he’s talking in a too-pretentious way._

 

“What happened?” Nezu asked him. Izuku smiled and just shrugged.

 

“You don’t really need to ask do you? I assume that you already have some idea as to what happened to me and I assure you that you’re correct.”

 

Nezu suddenly put his cup down on the table making clanking sounds. He sighed and eyed Izuku.

 

“He betrayed you, didn’t he? I told you when you were just starting that experiment that Clockwork wouldn’t remain loyal to you. Why do you never listen?” Izuku poured tea into his empty cup.

 

“It’s fine.” Izuku dismissed him. “Where are my staff and researchers?” Nezu seemed frustrated but he still answered.

 

“I took them out of the country that night. What All-for One killed that night were Ectoplasm’s clones that was draped with the illusion quirk of your villain friend. Everyone’s safe so don’t worry. Even with the assumed death of All-for-One years ago I still didn’t let any of them come back to be sure. And as per your preparations, they’re at countries that have strong sympathy for the quirkless. All of them are living safe and comfortably and while some of them have died of old age there are still many waiting for your return.”

 

Izuku couldn’t help but let out a small smile.

 

“I see... that’s good. Thank you Nezu.” But instead of answering, Nezu only looked at Izuku with unblinking eyes.

 

“Fine” Izuku made a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for disappearing on everyone like that and for only contacting you when I needed your help. I really did have no choice though.”

 

Nezu nodded. “I don’t really believe the part with you not having any choice but apology still accepted. I’m taking it easy on you now since I know Gran would be a nightmare to deal with.” Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement.

 

“What changed? I thought you didn’t like interacting with anything outside your pursue for death? Did you... finally give up?” Nezu asked him with a serious voice but he couldn’t hide the hopeful tone underneath the uttered words.

 

Izuku’s lips turned up into a smile and the corner of his eyes crinkled.

 

“I still don’t like useless interactions and who said this has got nothing to do with my death? Everything I do takes me one step closer to my goal Nezu and I will never give up. Not now, not ever.” He looked him straight in the eyes but Nezu didn’t even flinch.

 

“I knew you were going to say that. I just wished I was wrong.” Nezu sighed. “But aside from that would you care to explain why Toshinori is expressing his concern for the safety of his students with you?”

 

“Oh” Izuku softly said. Nezu trained his unblinking eyes at him. “I may have made it look like I was an unstable person when I was proving my immortality to him and his friend.”

 

Nezu looked dumbfounded. “Tell me you didn’t.” Izuku offered a smile that was more like a grimace.

 

“I drank acid in front of them and acted like it was nothing.”

 

Nezu is someone everyone is terrified of. He never lets his guard down and always seems like he’s calm and ready for anything. But right now, in front of Izuku is not the dignified principal of U.A with the High Spec quirk but his friend and partner in crime and easily flustered Nezu, the same as the young mouse that Izuku first met many years ago.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?! No wonder Toshinori was so tense after meeting you! I’ve always advised you to not do that to anyone but do you listen? Do you ever listen? Noooo.” He ended with a loud and exaggerated sigh.

 

“It’s fine. I don’t need them to see me as a sane human being because I abandoned that title a long time ago.” Izuku took the blindfold and played with it with his hands while looking at Nezu.

 

“And we’re going to be fighting together in the future and you’re aware of how I fight Nezu. It’s only going to get worse especially now that I lost my Dragon Arm and Leg to All-for-One. I can’t have them feeling any sympathy for me and distract them when the time to fight comes.”

 

Nezu looked frustrated. “Why do you always feel the need to be seen as a monster Izuku? I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, your immortality and all that you’ve experienced doesn’t take away your humanity. You–” Izuku cut him off by paralysing him with his quirk for a second and releasing him immediately.

 

“Let’s not argue about this again because last time we did, we ignored each other for years and look at where that brought us.” Izuku saw the seriousness in Nezu’s eyes like he had so many things to say just like every time when they have this conversation. But then Nezu for the first time backed down with an unreadable look on his face. Its times like these that Izuku wishes that he had a mind reading quirk because being sensitive to lies doesn’t help him in situations like this.

 

“Well I agree with that but I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean you may have lost two of your quirks but you look like you’re having fun. You told me before that you were never able to attend school right?” Nezu gave him a small smile and looked at him with what Izuku thought was fondness.

 

“Stop that. I get uncomfortable when you’re not nagging or acting like winnie the pooh’s evil genius albino twin brother.” He saw Nezu’s eye twitch and Izuku felt relieved that the atmosphere before returned to normal.

 

Nezu didn’t dignify his statement with a response and just moved on to another subject.

 

“About Toshinori’s condition do you think you can help him? Because if he goes on like this he’s...” Nezu looked straight at Izuku’s eyes.

 

“He’s going to die, yes. And as for your question, yes I can. I know some people that can help and I know some tricks to help him recover even a little bit.”

 

Nezu nodded and took a sip out of his cup only to say “Oh, it turned cold what a pity.” He looked up to Izuku and gave him a smile. He was about to say something else when they heard a knock on the door before softly opening.

 

“Thank you for indulging my request for a conversation Midoriya-kun this has been most splendid.” Nezu smilingly said without missing a beat.

 

“No no Nezu-san thank you for taking the time to talk to me it was very enlightening.” Izuku replied with a smile while standing up and bowing a little to Nezu. “Well then Nezu-san I need to go home.”

 

Izuku turned around and Nezu looked at the door and they both saw Toshinori awkwardly standing in the doorway. He was looking strangely at Izuku and when he noticed that Izuku knew he was staring he quickly looked at Nezu who was still smiling and dropped the act.

 

Nezu clapped his paws together.

 

“Oh Perfect timing Toshinori we were just done speaking.” _Ahhh his principal mode is on._

 

Toshinori just nodded and Izuku wanted to sigh but instead he moved towards the door with a wide smile while getting his bag that was at his side all this time.

 

“Good to see you again Toshinori. It’s unfortunate but I have to go. See you around, you too Nezu.” Izuku continued until he was outside the office. Then he proceeded to go home and have dinner with Inko.

 

 

The next day, after their English class with Present Mic, Izuku was listening as Toshinori explained the Indoor Battle Trial at Ground Beta. The rest had already drawn their lots but when Mo– Yaoyorozu was about to draw from the box, Toshinori stopped her and turned to the rest of the class.

 

“Now, as we’ve said earlier your teammates and opponents will be chosen by drawing lots but that will not be the case for the remaining four students.” Izuku looked around to see Kacchan, Yaoyorozu and Shou– Todoroki looking at each other and Izuku.

 

“Will the remaining three come in front?” Izuku walked as did the two kids since Yaoyorozu was already in front.

 

“Now then, the two of you got in through recommendations and the other two were the first and second place in the entrance exam so to spice things up I decided to make one team compose of three students and the other would be a one man team.” Toshinori flashed his All Might smile and everyone started to talk amongst themselves.

 

“All Might, sir isn’t this arrangement too disadvantageous to that one person?” Iida asked with a raised hand and everyone else was nodding along.

 

Katsuki however was flashing his predatory grin, Todoroki’s face that wasn’t covered in ice had a stone cold expression on and Yaoyorozu seemed to be thinking deeply.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that these young kids won’t have such a hard time.”

 

_That sure doesn’t include me huh?_ Izuku looked at Toshinori for confirmation and his nod was all the answer Izuku needed.

 

“And I‘d like to see how that one person would react when put in a disadvantageous situation. Would they panic? Would they fumble? Or would they devolve to a trapped animal and act on their instincts.”

 

_Yep he’s testing me. And he’s also making sure of the safety of the students by adding an additional person to the team against me. That was good, only if I would comply._

 

Izuku smiled at that. Toshinori saw it but just continued talking.

 

“Being in a team is also hard if you can’t work well together. I’ll see who needs improvement in their communication skills and cooperativeness. So then you four please draw your lot here.” Toshinori took out a different box.

 

“Young Midoriya you pick first. The three member team would be team ‘I’ and the one man team would be team ‘J’” Toshinori looked at where his eyes should be and Izuku nodded his head.

 

_Making him hate me would be counter-productive so I guess I can play along._

 

He looked down the dark box and the small opening and saw four balls three of which had the letter ‘I’ printed on them and one had the letter ’J’ and as Toshinori implicitly requested, he picked the one with the ‘J’ without anyone noticing. And since the rest would automatically be in team ‘I’ they proceeded to deciding the roles of each team. And the results were that he would be a villain and the three would be heroes.

 

“You’re going down Deku.” Katsuki said with that predatory grin still plastered on his face. Izuku just smiled.

 

“I won’t make it easy for you Kacchan.”

 

Katsuki didn’t say anything and just scoffed, cursing under his breath while he walked towards one corner to lean at the wall and stare at the screens.

 

The three versus one fight would be at the end of the exercise so Izuku would be able to watch everyone with their quirk at work. Beside him now was Uraraka as they watched Iida and Mineta as the villains go against the hero team of Ashido and Aoyama.

 

Iida’s team was doing well in defending their bomb. They let Mina Ashido and Aoyama reach the third floor where Iida, Mineta and the bomb was and ambushed them with Mineta’s quirk. They were able to barely dodge but that was enough for Iida to get the two of them with one kick making Mina and Aoyama slam to the wall. In that side of the room, Iida had put all the objects on the floor to serve as obstacles to the hero team. Iida readied his stance as Mineta patronizingly say that the two should be careful of ambushes. Izuku heard Uraraka cheer beside him.

 

“Go Iida-kun!”

 

Izuku was busy watching the fight. When they managed to stand up Aoyama quickly started firing , although a bit shakily since he couldn’t find a suitable footing, his lasers at Mineta and Iida and Ashido easily duck under the laser as she used her acid to skate herself through the objects, albeit slower than her previous skating speed, towards the bomb.

 

“thas....aspre...gre..aight...ahkun”

 

Mineta looked like he was screaming as he was dodging. _There isn’t any audio available and as an audience that just wants to analyze these kid’s quirks I want to raise a protest._ But he didn’t since he could just read their lips to know what they’re talking about. _Well except Iida since I can’t see his face. What the–_ Izuku’s attention was caught by the panicking Mineta that started blindly throwing the things on his head. That stopped Aoyama from firing his lasers to dodge but Iida, who had quickly ran towards the bomb when he saw Ashido move, accidentally stepped on those purple grape things and faceplanted into the floor.

 

“...iyakun”

 

And without anyone intercepting her Ashido got to the bomb and that won them the battle. _Too bad for Iida and Mineta._

 

“...ukukun”

 

Izuku started thing of what both team could have did better to win more efficiently and with less collateral damage.

 

“Deku-kun!”

 

“Wait what?” Izuku turned to look at Uraraka who had her palms around her mouth and aimed at his assaulted ear.

 

“Sorry I was spacing out. Were you saying something?” Izuku tilted his head whilst he looked at Uraraka who just smiled at him.

 

“I was just talking about how great the battle was but then I noticed you were spacing out so I just tried snapping you out of it. You didn’t even move when I called your first name. I tried shouting the name Bakugou called you with earlier and viola it worked.”

 

“Oh, so I responded to ‘Deku’ huh?” Izuku nodded his head. _Is this another influence of Midoriya Izuku? Please give me a break kid. I can’t have more reasons for possibly having an anxiety attack. Not having control isn’t fun for me you know?_ Izuku said in his head as if the kid could really hear him.

 

“Oh, was that not alright? Is it an exclusive name for you two or something? You call him Kacchan and he calls you Dek–”

 

“What the fuck Roundface can’t you mind your own fucking business? And haven’t you heard of personal space you chipmunk? Stop getting into the loser’s face can’t you see he’s fucking uncomfortable?” The voice wasn’t loud but but it had a threatening tone to it.

 

Izuku looked at Katsuki who was leaning at the wall behind them his hands in his pocket. _When did he get there?_ As if reading his mind, Katsuki said.

 

“The screen here had a better angle so I moved but what I saw was someone who had no sense of private space.” He put his arms over his chest and glared at Uraraka who immediately moved away with a blush. Izuku didn’t even notice that she got close when she shouted in his ear and frankly he didn’t see what was wrong with it.

 

“And you.” Katsuki glared at him. “Fucking say if something’s bothering you since people aren’t fucking mind readers you shitty nerd. Use that fucking brain of yours no matter how painful that would be for you.” Izuku was about to say something when Katsuki ‘tsked’ loudly and violently walked away, hand returning to his pocket while taking timed breaths.

 

“Wow.” He heard Urakaka say beside him. He turned to see her gaping at Katsuki’s direction.

 

“Don’t mind him. Kacchan just watches too much drama.” And now Uraraka was gaping at him.

 

“And about the names, we’ve known each other since childhood and that’s what we’ve called each other and it just stuck.”

 

“What did?” Iida said coming from beside them.

 

“Iida-kkun congratulations! Too bad you lost but it was a very good match!” Izuku greeted him still struggling a bit with using people’s last names with honorifics. _But I’m still trying go me._

 

“Yeah Iida-kun it was very close.” Uraraka seemed to have snapped back into reality.

 

Iida smiled at them. “Thank you Midoriya-kun and Uraraka-kun. Now what were you saying that was stuck? Is everything all right?” Iida looked over them for signs of anything off but Izuku just smiled.

 

“We were talking about how Kacchan calls me Deku. And I said it was a childhood nickname that just stuck.”

 

Iida raised his brow at that. “That doesn’t sound very friendly though. It’s more like an insult than anything else.”

 

Izuku was about to say something when Uraraka piped in.

 

“I don’t know but doesn’t it sound like Dekiru? It has that ‘I can do it!’ vibe. It sounds cute.” Uraraka smiled at him sheepishly. This might be her way of making up for what she thought she did wrong earlier.

 

“No. You two and the rest of our class are cuter.” He would’ve sent a wink if he didn’t have his blindfold on but he thinks that the wink was apparent from his tone. And from the way the two were taken aback and a bit flushed it seems it really was.

 

“So you’re all free to call me Deku” Iida had protested to calling his friend like since it was inappropriate, but his blush didn’t convince Izuku so he didn’t force him to. Uraraka, however, had no such qualms.

 

“Okay Deku-kun!”

 

From the corner of his eyes he saw Katsuki’s head quickly snap in their direction. Izuku decided not to question it, lest Katsuki might blow off him again. The three of them were still about to talk when Toshinori started their analysis on the previous battle.

 

When asked who the MVP of the exercise was, Yaoyorozu explained in full detail why it was Iida. Everyone was amazed at the end of it and Toshinori acted like he wasn’t surprised and added a little comment about Iida needing to be more relaxed next time.

 

Iida stood straighter and fixed his glasses. He looked so happy but didn’t know how to express it.

 

“Thank you very much. I have learned a lot from this exercise and I’ll make sure to become better in the future.”

 

He saw Mineta grumble at the corner. Kaminari tried to appease him but the grape kid just said he deserved the MVP as Iida since they were on the same team. Izuku just turned his attention at the screen.

 

The battles that followed were good in Izuku’s opinion but there were still a lot of areas that needs improvement although that was the reason why they were at school.

 

_School huh?_

 

During the olden times when quirks just began manifesting, they were treated as Satan’s spawn. They said that it was punishment for destroying nature, homosexuality and a lot of other bullshits that Izuku was too young to understand at the time. He was sent to a laboratory wherein abnormal kids, as they were called at the time, were dropped by their parents in exchange for some bit of money. Izuku grew up there and it was complete and utter hell.

 

His original quirk wasn’t even that flashy, not like what he has now. Those four quirks were nothing more than a gift, in exchange for his original quirk and there isn’t a day in his life that he doesn’t regret it.

 

Although there are days that he doesn’t. _Fuck my messed up head._

 

Izuku looks at the kids with their future ahead of them. He remembers those kids with quirks at the lab. He imagine what would have happened if they were born in this era. _It’s good that these kids were born at this time._ Izuku smiles at the warm feeling in his chest.

 

He felt someone’s gaze on him and he saw Toshinori frowning a bit at him.

_I’m not gonna do anything to them. Even though you’ve seen me harm myself it doesn’t mean that I can harm these innocent kids you know?_

 

But the thing is Toshinori and his friend don’t know, Hoshi and Kai don’t know. Most of his associates don’t know. Izuku is a monster yes but he’s not as numb as lets on. And only a very few people knows that and most of them are already dead, leaving Izuku again and again.

 

_Ugh. I do wish I was numb. Things would be easier then._

 

“Yey! I won!” Uraraka came in with Shoji, her partner and Sato and Kouda who were the villain team.

 

“Congrats Uraraka!” “Good job Uraraka-kun!” Came his and Iida’s simultaneous reply.

 

She beamed at them. Izuku was watching despite being up in his head and she and Shoji really did a good job all of them really have potential. _But wait..._

 

“Kick their asses Deku-kun!” “Good luck Midoriya-kun and language Uraraka-kun!”

 

Uraraka gave a sheepish apology to Iida who nodded in approval while Izuku looked at them fondly.

 

_Yep, these kids are too pure. And fuck I almost forgot I was going to battle as well._

 

“The final teams please proceed to the building and you’ll have 5 minutes to be prepared.”

 

Iida patted him on the shoulder and Uraraka gave him a double thumbs up while the rest of the class gave their good lucks to the four of them.

 

Yaoyorozu bowed to them. Todoroki remained impassive. Katsuki just flipped them off.

 

Izuku took of his blindfold and put up his mask.

 

“Hey Uraraka-san Iida-kun can watch over this for me.” He looked at them but they didn’t respond. He also noticed the room go silent. It was at least half a minute before someone spoke up.

 

“Damn Midori I didn’t notice at first but you’re looking good. And your eyes what even...” Most of them are nodding while some are just staring at him.

 

Izuku didn’t really put much thought in his costume. He thinks he just looks like a traditional ninja. The base design was the jumpsuit that Inko bought him. Only what he’s wearing now was full black in color with slight grey at the sides of the sleeves, torso and his legs. He didn’t go to a mouth guard as he originally planned and opting to choose a simple mask that goes from his neck under the tracksuit to his nose just like Shoji’s stopping just under his eyes and covering his red marks. Connected to that mask is a black hood connected to the back of his mask stopping just over his forehead. He has a black utility belt and his red shoes with black iron soles. This was designed so that the focus would be at his eyes and right now even without the mask and the hood, everyone was looking at his eyes.

  


Izuku just smiled at them and put his mask and hood up, leaving the blindfold in Uraraka’s hand. He didn’t wait for any of their reactions before he went out of the basement and into the fifth floor of the building where the bomb was.

 

He went up to the rooftop after seeing the bomb and looked for the three heroes. It’s almost too difficult to spot anyone from here but Izuku’s eyes could see all. Izuku easily found them with greath clarity at the side talking and surprisingly Katsuki didn’t look like he was ready to murder someone. Well, he sort of still does but this was different. He looked like his usual angry self but the toxicity in the way he interacts has lessened.

 

_How could have I not noticed this?_

 

Izuku was about to evaluate all his interaction with Katsuki when he saw him yelling at the two of them and acting like he was about to pounce on Todoroki any second.

 

_Oh ok false alarm._

 

Izuku thought as he oversaw their planning. He may not be able to hear them but he’s very good at reading peoples lips. Izuku smiled as he leisurely spent his 5 minutes looking at them. The prospect of battle without the pressure that Izuku always felt seemed refreshing to him. His blood seemed to be pumping but Izuku blames that feeling to Midoriya Izuku’s influence.

 

Soon the five minutes were up and the three started to enter the building. Izuku’s smile under the mask widened.

 

_This will be fun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify that one bit there:
> 
> “thas....aspre...gre..aight...ahkun?” - "they are pretty great right Midoriya kun?"
> 
> “...iyakun?” - Midoriya kun?
> 
> "...ukukun?" - Izuku kun?
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> And I'm sorry if this was late. I really wanted to finish this earlier but there was an idea that wouldn't get out of my head so I wrote that to get it over with.
> 
> So yeah how was it? And really this line defined me when I wrote this chapter
> 
> Izuku didn’t really put much thought in his costume.
> 
> Wherein Izuku is me like what the frig I was really stressing about this when I just said to hell with this and wrote whatever. 
> 
> I wanted to make a costume where only his eyes could be seen so people would automatically look at it cause y'know Izuku's Dragon Eyes only work with direct eye contact tho the distance doesn't matter as long as they are both looking into each other's eyes romantic I know.
> 
> Well then I ranted again sorry. Someone previously asked if I was editing chapters like with chapter 8 well the answer is yes but I'm not putting new scenes in them like with ch 8. I'm just fixing things I overlooked one chapter at a time. Like when I posted ch 10 I also edited ch 1 and now after this I'll immediately edit ch 9 and so on and so forth.
> 
> Weeeell then I hope you enjoy! Thanks for the kudos, comment, bookmark or just reading this fic of mine.
> 
> Reading fanfics are one of the things I really enjoy and I hope this fic is one of those that makes you like fanfics more too. I'm going to stop now before I start another rant on how fun reading fanfics are for me and I'm a nerd for saying that I know.
> 
> Once again thank you I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D


	12. Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids learn something. The old timer eats his ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! 
> 
> I made some changes in Izuku's costume in the previous chapter but since I don't trust myself enough to have described it thoroughly please imagine Izuku's Gamma costume but without the white arm support equipment. 
> 
> The design is also the same but the green there would be black and the black lines of the costume would be grey. The white shoulder armor (?) would be red like his shoes. His iron armor soles are still black. The support item that starts from his knees to his ankle (?) are still black.
> 
> His mouth guard is replaced by a black mask that goes over his nose and also a normal black hood without the All Might theme.
> 
> I suck at clothes and designs and things like that so yeah please be gentle lol.
> 
> Enjoy :D

Momo prided herself with her wit. She wouldn’t be so arrogant to say that there was no one else was above her but she has enough self-awareness to know that she had an above average mind for strategizing.

 

“It’s almost three minutes and there’s still no sign of anything happening inside.” Momo looked up from the wrist watch she created and watched the frozen building where Todoroki went inside to claim the bomb.

 

She then turned to look at Bakugou who was still clearly shaken from seeing Todoroki’s power. Momo couldn’t blame him since she herself was still awed at the sheer power of their teammate’s quirk

 

“As planned, I’m going to the side of the building and enter from the top. You can–”

 

“I can do whatever the fuck I want.” Bakugou said without even glancing at her. “Go do whatever and leave me the fuck alone.” He just kept looking at the building. And Momo couldn’t help the sigh leaving her lips.

 

“At least keep the comms open.”

 

Bakugou didn’t say anything but he didn’t turn his earpiece off so she didn’t say anything further. Momo sighed again. She knew that her new classmate somehow had a problematic personality but she realized it just now that trying to work with him was a very difficult task.

 

She decided that instead of forcing him to cooperate she would just observe his actions closely and make sure that he doesn’t disrupt their plans. Todoroki was also a bit difficult to talk to but he was willing to listen although he insisted to first do his simple plan of freezing Midoriya in place along with the building and get the bomb.

 

“Todoroki-kun what’s the situation.” She positioned herself at the side of the building and crouched with her bare back facing the sky. Her impractical costume was tucked to her chest.

 

“Midoriya wasn’t caught. The bomb is in the fifth floor. I went down to the fourth floor to fight without the possibility of damaging the objective.” Just like what they talked about earlier.

 

“Is he following you?” She concentrated on an image in her head and activated her quirk.

 

“Yes I hear his footsteps.” A sturdy ladder the height of the building shot out of her back “Okay I’m climbing up now. Please melt the ice when you see him. And be careful we don’t really know what his quirk completely does.”

 

“I know.” Came Todoroki’s calm reply.

 

Momo wore her clothes and placed the ladder and looked up the windows. Two minutes later, heat was radiating off the building, the ice turning into a steam that was perfect to obstruct Midoriya’s vision but not too much to make him suspicious. She started climbing up to the fifth floor and saw how the steam was practically a mist. It was a good thing that Todoroki used a thick layer of frost earlier since that gave her the bare minimum cover she needed to not be noticed by their opponent.

 

She didn’t distract Todoroki further and continued to climb quickly. She heard Bakugou’s “The fucking ice is gone I’m going in.” And she was thankful that her teammate had indeed been listening on their planning.

 

“Copy that. Todoroki and Midoriya are somewhere on the fourth floor. Be careful.”

 

Bakugou didn’t respond but Momo wasn’t bothered. A few more seconds and she was at the fifth floor. When she looked inside she saw the bomb with no one in the room to protect it. She opened the window and went inside silenty. She looked around before walking to the objective. Yaoyorozu was cautious. The fact that there was still no report from Todoroki about Midoriya’s quirk up till now unsettled her.

 

_Why wouldn’t he use his quirk in this battle?_

 

Bakugou didn’t tell them much about Midoriya’s quirk aside from the fact that he has regeneration. They all concluded that his quirk mainly focused on his eyes but they didn’t know how his quirk would work. Yaoyorozu had many questions but she just shook her head. They will win regardless of what Midoriya’s quirk was.

 

“Good work guys the objective is in sight.” She was about to touch the bomb when Todoroki’s voice came from the earpiece.

 

“Midoriya got away. He’s coming up.”

 

She turned towards the entrance and only saw golden orbs that filled her vision with nothing but darkness.

 

\--

 

Shouto prided himself with the power and his control of his ice quirk. When he went up to the fifth floor he really didn’t expect to only find a pair of the iron soles that Midoriya attached to his shoes frozen on the ground.

 

He also didn’t expect the kick that came from his side that was aimed at his neck. Shouto swiftly dodged and took a step back as he sent a wave of ice towards the dark figure. Midoriya jumped back until he was next to the frozen bomb.

 

“How about sending an attack here?” He couldn’t see it but Shouto heard the grin from Midoriya’s words.

 

Shouto was confident that he could fight Midoriya and get the objective but their team had the numbers and he would be foolish not to take advantage of that. They also still don’t have any info on his quirk so baiting him out of this floor would be the wise choice just like what Yaoyorozu discussed earlier.

 

He tried his best to lure Midoriya out of the room and it seemed like his opponent was happy to play along. When they finally got to the fourth floor Yaoyorozu contacted him and he gave a concise summary of what happened.

 

“Is he following you?” Shouto positioned himself in the middle of the room. The first through third floor was structured like a maze with lots of turns and narrow enough hallways but the fourth and fifth were an open space with pillars here and there.

 

“Yes I hear his footsteps.” And not a second later he sees Midoriya’s silhouette.

 

“Okay I’m climbing up now. Please melt the ice when you see him. And be careful we don’t really know what his quirk does.”

 

“I know.” Shouto didn’t take his eyes off the approaching figure. He raised his right hand to ready an attack but he wasn’t expecting Midoriya to run towards him. Shouto, however, remained calm and sent a wave of ice after another to distract him as his teammate climb from outside.

 

But then, Midoriya surprised him by effortlessly sidestepping his ice and swiftly continue running towards him even with the slight frost on the floor.

 

 _This doesn’t look like a case of enhanced reflexes._ Shouto concluded. It looked more like he saw where the ice was going but with the speed of his attack how–?

 

“Focus on your opponent Todoroki-kun.” Before he knew it Midoriya was in front of him and his right hand was grabbing for his face. Shouto used his left arm to parry the punch and he was surprised at how light it was.

 

Next was a kick with his right leg. Again, Shouto was perplexed at how light his attack felt. They all knew that Midoriya didn’t have a strength augmentation quirk but from the test on the first day, Shouto could say that Midoriya was decently strong physically. So that’s why he can’t understand the reason behind the lack of power on his kicks and punches.

 

He was thinking along these lines when suddenly, a kick on his torso knock the wind out his lungs as he rolled on the floor. He looked up to see Midoriya’s left leg touch the ground. He didn’t have time to mull over what just happened because he was near a window and he remembered what he needed to do. So Shouto put his left hand on the floor and used Endeavour’s flame to slowly melt some of the ice. He did it gradually to turn the building especially this floor into a sauna where steam would be able to mess with the visibility in this floor.

 

He may have heard something from the comms but he didn’t pay it any attention and stood up. He used his ice to propel him towards Midoriya’s position while occasionally touching a pillar to continue the heating of the building until all the frost was gone. He didn’t notice the ice melting from his costume from the continuous heat radiating off his body. He looked around but he didn’t see Midoriya anywhere.

 

“Good work guys the objective is in sight.” Shouto then remembered that Yaoyorozu was in the floor above and he suddenly had a bad feeling. He ran towards the stairs and the bad feeling in his gut was confirmed when he saw something black quickly climb the stairs.

 

“Shit!” He connected to Yaoyorozu’s earpiece. “Midoriya got away. He’s coming up.”

 

Shouto followed after him to the next floor only to see his teammate lying on the ground in front of Midoriya who was wrapping the capture tape around her wrist.

 

_That means I have to deal with this alo–_

 

“Where the fuck are you and the nerd? Ponytail won’t answer me.” Shouto heard Bakugou from his earpiece and he was surprised at himself for almost forgetting that they had another team member.

 

“Yaoyorozu’s out. We’re all here in the fifth floor.”

 

Shouto didn’t hear from Bakugou after that but he did hear the sound of explosions from below. Midoriya seemed to have noticed this as well.

 

“Kacchan’s coming here now, too bad that I’ve already caught Yaoyorozu-san so I don’t have a reason to hold back anymore.”

 

Before Todoroki could ask what he meant, he felt himself being drawn to Midoriya’s eyes and for some strange reason he couldn’t look away. When he tried walking back that’s when he felt it.

 

“I can’t move.” He stared wide eyed at Midoriya. “I can’t feel my body what–” Shouto’s legs gave out causing him to fall down to the floor. He tried to shake his head but he still can’t look away from those eyes.

 

The last thing he saw was Midoriya walking towards him before he lost consciousness.

 

\--

 

Katsuki prided himself with the fact that he was the best whether in terms of his intellect or his quirk. No one has ever made him question this fact. However, after hearing Ponytail’s analysis of every fight and her plans for this one as well as seeing that Half-n-half’s quirk freezing the entire fucking building, it made him want to prove himself by beating them. But that would come after his fight with Deku.

 

Katsuki was sure that those pretty eyes were useless in combat that’s why he didn’t even bother mentioning his ‘zoom’ vision to the other two. He didn’t think that he would be proven wrong twice today so he couldn’t help but let out a roar of “WHAT THE FUCK?!” When he saw his two teammates on the side of the bomb, unconscious and both with the capture tape on their wrists.

 

“Welcome to my lair Kacchan.” Only his eyes were exposed but the cheerful tone made the smile under the mask evident. His hood was up and with the black and grey costume the nerd looked the part of a villain perfectly.

 

Bakugou believed in the principle of punch now questions later so naturally, he charged at the nerd.

 

“DIIIEEEE!” He barely saw the crinkle of the nerd’s eyes before he felt his right arm being grabbed and the next thing he knew, he was laying on his back and staring up at Deku who pulled down his mask to show the grin on his face.

 

“You always start with a big right swing Kacchan.” It was the first time Katsuki saw that kind of expression from the nerd. He was obviously high from adrenaline but there was something more basic, Deku was having fun.

 

And it’s just then that he realized that he never saw anything like that on the nerd’s face before. The last time he saw it was when they were fucking four. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks but he didn’t know what all of it meant so he pushed it back, like what he did to all the other useless emotions that made him weak and made people look down on him, he pushed it as far as he could away from the surface as possible and as always he attacked the source of it.

 

“That ain’t gonna do shit Deku you need to fight me for real to win.” Then he was off.

 

He used explosions to charge, he used it to change his midair trajectory and he used his explosions to blast the nerd from his back effectively pushing him away from the bomb and his dead to the world teammates. Deku, however seemed to have seen what Katsuki was trying to do since he managed to barely dodge the attack with minimum damage and still be between Katsuki and the bomb next to his teammates.

 

“Try harder Kacchan.” Katsuki was supposed to take it as mocking but the determined glint in the nerd’s eyes made it seem like he was being taken seriously.

 

Again, he didn’t know what to think about that but the feral smile on his face appeared without his permission.

 

“I’ll make you choke on your words Deku.” He once again charged at the nerd but instead of doing the same thing, he put his palm on the floor and used it as leverage to swing his leg to sweep the nerd off his feet.

 

“Then make me.” He barely heard that as Deku, whose hood was off his head, jumped just in time to avoid Katsuki’s leg like he saw it coming ahead of time and when his feet touched the floor Katsuki expected a counter attack so he prepared his palms but then he saw the nerd wobble a bit especially on his right leg and that gave Katsuki the perfect opportunity to jump back and prepare for another exhilarating round.

 

“Your balance is off as fuck nerd!” Katsuki went forward, intent on attacking his right side. But the nerd expected him to and his face was met with a fierce kick. Katsuki, however noticed that the nerd put more effort than necessary to execute the attack and that gave him a enough time to go under and avoid the kick, retaliating with a punch to the nerd’s chin. Which the nerd fucking took in exchange for having the chance to punch him the gut with his right hand.

 

Both of them took a step back but it was evident for Katsuki that he dealt the bigger damage.

 

“That punch was weak as fuck Deku.” He took deep breaths. Katsuki expected to see the nerd a bit ruffed up from their exchange as well but he was surprised to see that the nerd didn’t have a single scratch his hair looked more messed up than usual but that was all.

 

“Did you forget my regeneration Kacchan?” He heard the mirth and challenge in the nerd’s tone and Katsuki would be damned if he didn’t rise up to meet him in his game.

 

“That ain’t gonna win you this duffus.” He was excited to have another go at the nerd and so they did. They spent another few minutes locked in a heated exchange of kick and punches and Katsuki noticed something odd. The nerd preferred to use his right arm and leg but they would always be weaker than his left arm and leg. He found it strange but he didn’t let it mess with him too much. For all he knew this was all did intentionally by the scheming nerd.

 

They both jumped back and ready to start another exchange. Katsuki was about to taunt the nerd again when All Might’s voice boomed throughout the building.

 

“Time is up... THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS!”

 

He looked towards the nerd to see him smiling at him like they just finished a very exciting game and if Katsuki wasn’t who he was, he might just have admitted the same thing to himself. But because he was Bakugou Fucking Katsuki he just sneered at the nerd.

 

“You look dumber than usual Deku cut that shit out.” He saw the little pout on the fucker’s lips but then he saw the two people next to the bomb start to wake up so he used that as a distraction.

 

“Wake up motherfuckers we lost.”

 

On his peripheral, he saw Deku gaping like a stupid fish at his statement. Naturally, this pissed the fuck off Katsuki so glared at the nerd.

 

“What?! You think I’m dumb enough to not see when I lost loser?” He was about to continue when he heard something on his side.

 

“It’s ironic that you’re calling him loser when you’re admitting your loss to said loser.” He glared at fucking Half-n-half but the idiot just stared at him before slowly talking like he was explaining something to a little kid with a deadpan expression on his dumb face. “It’s ironic.”

 

He heard laughs from both fucking Deku and that Ponytail and he just exploded.

 

“Shut the fuck up fucking Half-n-half and Ponytail!” Sparks were going off his palms “And you... ” He turned to the nerd. “I’ll fucking destroy you next time. Don’t get complacent Deku.”

 

He turned around and started walking down the building when he heard the nerd say behind him.

 

“I’ll let you still call me ‘Deku’ Kacchan but know that it doesn’t mean the same thing to me anymore.” That made Katsuki’s head turn like a whip. Then he remembered the conversation he heard a while ago.

 

_“I don’t know but doesn’t it sound like Dekiru? It has that ‘I can do it!’ vibe. It sounds cute.”_

 

That made him bristle but he remembered to control his breathing and think of the names of the infamous heroes who became villains.

 

_I will be the number one hero not a fucking villain._

 

He glared at the nerd. “I don’t fucking care. And I don’t need your permission on anything in fact I’m the one who’s been giving you permission all this time to call me that atrocious nickname.”

 

Deku just fucking smiles at him in return and says “Sure Kacchan.”

 

The two extras looked at their interaction but Katsuki ignored all of them and started walking.

 

\--

 

Izuku prided himself with the fact that he was a resourceful little shit.

 

From even before the battle started, he already knew what they were trying to do. He knew that Todoroki would make the first move and coat the whole building with a layer of frost inside and out and check the bomb and Izuku by himself since his other teammates faced disadvantages with the building in a low temperature.

 

He knew that they had a backup plan ready for when they don’t hear the signal for a win within three minutes. He knew that Yaoyorozu would climb to the where the bomb was from outside the building and he knew that Todoroki would need to lure him a floor below where the bomb was. They had another backup plan if Izuku decided to place the plan on the first floor, which was impressive but unnecessary. And he also knew that Katsuki would be the last resort so he came in last when the ice was melted by Todoroki to be used to obstruct his vision, which was useless since his eyes makes him able to see clearly through the steam.

 

He went with their plan until the moment Todoroki started creating steam in the building. During their previous bout, Izuku made sure to kick him as far away as possible and wait for the opportunity to come. When it did, he wasted no time going back to the fifth floor where he was sure Yaoyorozu was present.

 

Izuku didn’t want to use his quirk on Todoroki. Not until he got Yaoyorozu first because even if he paralyzed Todoroki first he’d still be able to talk and relay the information to Yaoyorozu and Katsuki. The chances were slim but he wouldn’t put it past them to try and figure out the possible conditions of his quirk.

 

“What conditions?” Uraraka asked from his side. They were discussing the previous battle at the basement of the building and Izuku was now explaining how he handled the three versus one situation to everyone, his mask and hood both down and he was holding the blindfold in his hand. Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Katsuki were especially taking note of everything he was saying. They were all complete since no one was seriously injured in any of the battles.

 

“And how the fuck did you know what we were planning?” Katsuki was glaring at him. Izuku just sighed.

 

“For the first question, the condition is that a person needs to look at my eyes for them to be paralyzed.” A series of ohhhh’s and ahhhh’s filled the room.

 

“I didn’t expect them to start fighting me with their eyes closed but Yaoyorozu-san’s creation quirk would have made it difficult.”

 

“How so?” Sero asked but Karsuki shouted. “Hey! Answer my question first.”

 

Izuku ignored him and faced Sero. “She could make flash bangs and thanks to my eyes I’m more sensitive to light than other people and I would undoubtedly lose.”

 

Izuku looked towards Yaoyorozu who seemed to have been in deep thought.

 

 _Good. Think of more ways to deal with the situation. Plan, anticipate and adapt._ Yaoyorozu Momo had the makings of a good strategist Izuku would be a fool not to nurture and help make her flourish.

 

He turned to Katsuki who was becoming more frustrated by the second so Izuku decided to indulge him by answering his question.

 

“I watched the three of you planning from the top of building I didn’t hear what you were saying but I’m good at lip reading.” Everyone gave him surprised expressions.

 

“Wait. Didn’t Kacchan tell anyone that my quirk makes me able to see things from very far away?” Everyone looked at Katsuki with disbelief especially Yaoyorozu.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us Bakugou-san?!”

 

Katsuki just clicked his tongue. “I didn’t think it was fucking important okay? Fuck off!”

 

“Now now everyone calm down.” Toshinori said as he went from his position by the wall to Katsuki and Yaoyorozu and putting a hand on their shoulders.

 

“But wait, is that allowed?” Todoroki piped in and looked curiously at Izuku.

 

“I should think so and we were having a battle simulation so gathering information is integral to any operation.” He saw some people nod but most still don’t seem convinced. Izuku just sighed.

 

_What am I gonna do with these naive kids?_

 

“It might not seem that fair but villains never play fair guys. They’ll do anything to get the upper hand. They’ll take your family, friends and loved ones hostage and kill them when they get what they want. They’ll even plant spies into your midst to get information. The worst villains have no qualms for breaking the rules and playing dirty so I think that we should all be aware of that fact or else...” He put on his blindfold. “You won’t see anything coming.”

 

He looked at the stunned expression of everyone as the weight of his words began to settle into them. Even Katsuki seemed to be in deep thought.

 

“Ehem.” Toshinori started. “Everything that Young Midoriya said is right. Villains don’t play fair so we should always be prepared but even then, facing these things head on and with a bright smile is the essence of a hero.” Toshinori looked at everyone but his gaze lingered at Izuku for a moment before he nodded at him. Izuku didn’t know what it meant but he nodded back to be polite.

 

Everyone went back to their classroom that day with renewed vigour. Sometimes his classmates would pat him in the shoulder and say to him “I’ll do my best!” with a passionate expression. Izuku just smiled at them and stutter a bit before going back to their seat.

 

Izuku didn’t really know what was happening but he’d like to think that he’s getting along with everyone just fine. And even when his teachers looked at him with a hint of approval, Izuku didn’t mind and went with his day.

 

“This is delicious!”Izuku said as he took another bite of his ice cream, Iida and Uraraka were talking about something at their table in the ice cream shop and Izuku just smiled at them. At the corner of his eyes behind the blindfold he noticed a black swirl of mist just outside the shop but he acted like he didn’t see it and resisted the urge to do anything, because despite everything Izuku prided himself with the fact that he was a very patient monster.

 

_I have all the time in the world after all._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey!
> 
> I got a full 7 hours of sleep so I'm extra happy today but anyway sorry this is my first time writing an action sequence where people really fight.
> 
> Someone asked in the comments (implicitly) if I'm a girl or guy lol. Well I'm a guy that's confused whether he's bi or demisexual.
> 
> Next the question of what would happen if Dadzawa used his quirk on Izuku was brought up. First of all let me say that all the dragon quirks of Izuku are mutation types.
> 
> Here is how erasure works on mutation types. For example with Ojiro's tail, it wouldn't disappear but he wouldn't be able to move it. For Izuku's immortality, he wouldn't be able to regenerate but his immortality wouldn't disappear.
> 
> Here is a gorey example (please skip to the next paragraph if not comfortable). Izuku's head is chopped off and erasure is used on him. His head wouldn't reattach but Izuku would still open his eyes and be able to move his body. His immortality wouldn't let him die but with erasure he wouldn't be alive as well. Izuku would just be like a coherent zombie.
> 
> There was also something in the comments about Nezu and Izuku's relationship but I wouldn't spoil since that would be in the next chapter :D
> 
> Also in the next chapter would be Todoroki, Toshinori and Izuku's POV but not necessarily in that order, maybe another mention of Izuku's past and we'll know that the loss of Izuku's two quirks may be affecting him more than he lets on.
> 
> That's all. Thank you for commenting, leaving kudos and just reading this fic. See you next update <3 :D


	13. Seeing a Black Mist means Bad Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku is an old boy but he is busy as fuck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey I hope people are still reading this  
> Enjoy ~
> 
> Edit 12/28/18  
> Thanks to blackimpdog for informing me :)

Having finished eating his ice cream, Izuku parted ways with Uraraka and Iida and he was now walking the familiar streets to Midoriya Izuku’s house.

After feeling the undeniable presence of All-for-One’s personal teleporter for a few seconds, Izuku was unable to feel the mist again. He was disappointed but he couldn’t really do anything about it.

Although he was thinking hard about a lot of things, to an outsider Izuku would only look like a UA student happily going home after a day at school. Sure, the blindfold was a bit unusual but in the world of quirks, that was hardly anything to make a big deal about. Izuku held the straps of his backpack as he put a little skip in his step while humming a random tune.

He felt a sharp hidden gaze directed at him but he acted unaware as he turned around the corner. This has been happening a lot since the UA entrance exam result has been leaked to the media. The Eight Precepts of Death’s constant presence at the vicinity of their and the Bakugou’s house helped a lot to ensure nothing bad happens and the fact that these gazes came from weak people kept Izuku from feeling bothered and killing them all.

Izuku was greeted by Inko when he came home and they ate dinner later on. Izuku then waited an hour after Inko said good night before he got up and went out the door.

As always, Izuku found Hitoshi waiting at Dagobah for their daily training. They’ve been doing this since the day after the entrance exam and after weeks of constant training, they’ve become something like friends. Although Hitoshi’s insistence of calling him master made Izuku’s brow twitch.

When insomniac boy saw him, a lazy grin made it to his face. “Always right on time sir”

Izuku felt kind of proud that the once shy and apprehensive boy was now comfortable enough to show his playful side to him. However, the way he was called made Izuku’s brow rise.

“I tell you to stop calling me master for weeks and the first time you follow me you start calling me sir?” Izuku said with his ‘so done’ tone and looked at Hitoshi like how he would look at cats that scratches him after giving them food, with calm resignation for the inevitable.

Hitoshi however looks like he’s having fun.

 _Good for him._ Izuku thought as he inwardly smiled. On the outside he’s excessively rolling his eyes.

“Stop calling me sir unless you want me to go Christian Grey on you. I can make the whole contract and everything so stop now.” Izuku smirked when Hitoshi looked at him with shock.

“Who’s that?” _Oh, that was confusion not shock._ Izuku resisted the urge to face palm and he just heaved a big sigh. Izuku was starting to think that he needed to increase his training on improving his observation skills because now that he was finally interacting with civilians, people who weren’t villains, vigilantes or people who have seen the dark side of the hero society, Izuku has been finding himself unable to read them because they were just so normal.

Izuku decided to think about it another and answered Hitoshi.

“He’s character from a book I read when I had free time.” _I’m the king of free time actually._ “I forgot that kids don’t read stuff like that.” _And the fact that it was centuries ago when it first came out._

Hitoshi gasped, acted offended and scoffed. “Excuse me, we’re basically the same age hell I might even be older than you since I’m taller than you.” Hitoshi looked at him up and down. Izuku noticed his gaze lingering on his body a little longer than necessary but this was a hormonal teenager so who was he to judge?

“Oh, please.” Izuku started as he put up his stance and gestured to Hitoshi to do the same. “I’m older than you in the things that count.” _Like age for example._

Hitoshi laughed as he put his fists in front of him. “Are you talking about Quirk mastery, hand to hand combat and mentality?” Izuku raised his brow at him. Hitoshi then started running to him with an opening punch aimed at the face.

“If that’s the basis then I’m a child and you’re several years ahead of me.” _Several centuries you mean._ Izuku thought with a shrug he swiftly evaded and countered with his own, intentionally missing by an inch.

Hitoshi smiled. “But I won’t be a kid forever.”

If Izuku was sensitive he would have been hurt since not just long ago, he was ‘forever seventeen’ then became a baby and now, a fourteen-year-old.

 _I have literally never experienced being not a kid._ Izuku bitterly thought.

 _At least All-for-One’s attack left my quirk wacky enough to let me age a bit more. At least his existence brought about one good thing._ Izuku thought as he evaded another one of Hitoshi’s attacks.

They spent two hours doing that before Izuku forced Hitoshi to go home and sleep.

 _“Me sleep? Highly unlikely”_ Hitoshi had said before leaving with a wave. But Izuku was sure that the physical exhaustion would do its trick as always and give the kid his well deserved sleep.

He met with a friend and talked for about an hour before heading back. Izuku came home with a smile and started studying in his room until the sun came up. Izuku put his things in his bag when he heard Inko’s footsteps. He then went out of his room, greeted Inko and helped with breakfast.

The next few days went like this. The only notable happening was the selection of the class representative which Izuku immediately forfeited and gave to Yaoyorozu with Iida as the vice. Yaoyorozu and Iida had protested at first but Izuku convinced him and the class by explaining in front in great detail how Yaoyorozu’s intelligence and versatile quirk was a great fit for the position.

The girl was blushing so hard when he was done but Izuku didn’t think too much of it and when he was about to start another ten minute rant this time about why Iida should accept the position, the boy desperately refused and quickly accepted the position willingly. He saw Katsuki glaring at him as he went to his seat but it didn’t bother too much since that was the usual.

The other thing that happened was the infiltration of the media that initiated panic with the students as the alarm went off. Iida, with the help of Uraraka, calmed everyone and informed them on the absence of a villain attack and Yaoyorozu created a ladder to reach the loud alarm and made it stop. When asked how she knew how to stop it she just smiled and said that she read a little bit about it once and still remembered how to do it. Izuku was proud at the two plus Uraraka for their swift actions.

After class that day, he immediately went to Nezu’s office and found Toshinori there with him, the two sitting on the couch and sipping tea. The latter seemed relieved to not be alone with the principal and endure his rant about how the Milky Way galaxy would perish in a few billion years time. At least that’s what Izuku thought they were talking about since he heard Nezu saying “and that’s how the Milky Way galaxy would perish in a few billion years time” when he came in but he could be wrong.

When they noticed Izuku standing there, Nezu turned to him with a smile. “I saw you coming here on the cameras so I invited Toshinori-kun. I hope you don’t mind.”

Izuku shrugged as he took a seat across them and didn’t bother for tea and instead started telling the situation from lunch earlier that day.

“Yeah, the media tend to be like that but it’s nothing to be concerned about.” Toshinori started with a raised brow as if asking why Izuku was making a big deal out of this.

Nezu started before Izuku could respond. “But that’s the thing, isn’t it? There’s something to be concerned about.” Nezu looked at him inquisitively.

_“Yeah.” Izuku said with a sigh. “I felt Kurogiri’s presence inside U.A today.” Nezu stiffened and looked at him seriously and Toshinori seem to have felt the tension but was confused as to why. Quickly realizing Toshinori didn’t know who Kurogiri was, Izuku added. “He’s one of All-for-One’s long time pawns. His quirk is warp gate. He can warp things, people and himself. I don’t know what exactly but something is definitely going on. All-for-One definitely had used the media as a diversion countless times before and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t use it again.”_

Silence flooded the room for a while. Nezu seemed to be thinking seriously about the information if Izuku was reading the glint in Nezu’s eyes correctly. Toshinori was looking at Izuku with a frown. Then he started to talk.

“How did you know that this ‘Kurogiri’ person was at U.A?”

Izuku shrugged. “I had a feeling he was there.” Toshinori didn’t look convinced.

“Even if you were telling the truth” Izuku internally gasped. _I AM telling the truth what the hell?_ “We don’t have enough information to do anything.” He looked contemplative for a second and turned to Nezu. “What do you think should we do principal?”

Nezu looked at Toshinori then at Izuku. “Well first we need to verify whether the Intel is accurate.” Toshinori nodded his head in agreement but froze instantly when Nezu added. “Although I don’t think it’s necessary since I trust Izuku’s judgement on anything regarding All-for-One.” Izuku couldn’t help feeling smug as he smiled at Nezu and Toshinori. _Thanks, I haven’t been fighting with that bastard all these years for nothing._

Toshinori looked liked he wanted to say something but decided not to but it was obvious that he was unsatisfied. Izuku didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. On one hand, Toshinori wasn’t treating him like someone to pity or it be concerned over. On the other, Izuku had risked Toshinori’s trust on him. Although it never hurt anyone to be cautious, Izuku had a feeling this would be problematic further down the line.

Izuku expected this kind of response from Toshinori but he still hoped that it wouldn’t be that bad. Unfortunately, Izuku had been too much on portraying his ‘inhumanness’. Izuku would have gone about it another way but he was already struggling from making ends meet. He was out of contact with his acquaintances, most of which must have been dead either due to time or to All-for-One. The eighth successor was acting fine but the anxiety brought about by his health was easily seen by Izuku. One-for-All still hasn’t been passed. And aside from the Eight Precepts of Death, Izuku had no other eyes underground. So when he needed to convince Toshinori and Naomasa, Izuku had no choice but to do it in the crudest and fastest way he could and just hope to earn their trust later on.

 _And so far I’ve done a very good job at that._ Sarcasm rolled off him like ocean waves.

Izuku walked home that night feeling a bit frustrated.

They continued their discussion up to six p.m until Izuku decided that he can’t make Inko wait for her son any longer. In the end, they decided to check all the footage taken starting from last week until today. Nezu also arranged to check if anything from their database had been tampered with or touched and they decided to make warnings for the U.A staff and faculty tomorrow to be extra cautious and alert.

Izuku suggested for Toshinori to stop doing hero work and using up his three hours for the time being, in case an emergency would indeed happen.

 _“No.”_ Toshinori had replied firmly. _“I can’t just sit and wait for hypothetical villains to make an attack when I see someone needing my help on the way here.”_

Izuku wanted to cut his own head off from frustration but he couldn’t force Toshinori to listen to him. In the end, Nezu offered to help convince the stubborn hero to lay low for a while.

During dinner, Izuku enthusiastically told Inko how his day went and the two talked about the most random things. It didn’t last long since Izuku excused himself to study and prepare for bed.

Izuku knows that he’d been spending less and less time with Inko but he wanted to stall for as long as possible for their talk. Inko wasn’t stupid and was already suspicious since his ‘incident’ but she didn’t pressure him or made him feel like he was obligated to talk to her just because she was Midoriya Izuku’s mother.

 _She really is a great mother._ Izuku thought briefly about his own mother but he had suffered one nightmare already and he wasn’t going to make himself suffer another one while he was awake.

Later that night, he went out again and met with Hitoshi. This time they didn’t do any physical training and went for quirk training. They picked up off their previous discussion and talked about the possibilities of Hitoshi’s Brainwashing quirk and then proceeded to using that quirk on Izuku countless times before Hitoshi felt exhausted.

The physical and quirk training always happened alternately except for weekends and it’s the quirk training that Izuku dreaded the most. Being brainwashed left him with no control of his body and made it hard for Izuku to stay calm every time it happened, which was a lot. As far as Izuku knew, Hitoshi had no idea that using his quirk on Izuku made him panic inside his head and that was how Izuku wanted things to be. Hitoshi was finally able to slowly accept his quirk and Izuku wouldn’t let his issues ruin the boy’s growth.

After that, Izuku went and knocked at the door of an apartment that was next to their own, so in other words...

“Hi neighbour!” Izuku greeted Kai who had a face mask on and whose eyes were looking a little bit clearer every time they meet. Inside were the other members of the Eight Precepts that had detection quirks. One had the sense of smell of a dog that had memorized all the scents of the people in the complex and would be able to sense an unfamiliar scent that would try to get close to Midoriya Inko, the other was able to control and communicate with harmless insects but only those that he had grown inside his body and the last one was able to see through inanimate objects and although the range was fairly limited, it was enough.

Izuku didn’t come in and just gave him the flash drive that he kept in his pocket and gave a wave goodbye which received a nod from Kai before Izuku went inside Midoriya Izuku’s house as quietly as possible. They had one room in every floor that was occupied by a team from the Eight Precepts. Three houses around the Bakugou household have also been occupied by them. After Izuku’s involvement with them, he had directed the precepts to contacts that would help with business and the police and because of that, the group started having more members and was closer and closer to its former glory.

That may be the reason why Kai was very hands on in Izuku’s request of protecting Inko and the Bakugous. And also, the lessons Izuku gave him on handling the organization every weekend gave him the incentive he needed to work hard despite not being able to work on his lab as much as he did before.

As always, Izuku studied until it was sunrise and helped Inko with the household chores. Days passed like that until one day that they were scheduled to have their rescue training at USJ, he didn’t bother listening to the meaning of it and started thinking of how he would help the kids while they were headed there in the bus.

“Midori-chan?” Izuku was stopped from his ramblings _Damn I didn’t notice I was muttering again_ when Asui called to him. She was wearing her hero costume and so was everyone else. Izuku was also wearing his own with his blindfold now tied to his left shoulder, the cloth covering the lower half of his face was also pulled down so his eyes and markings were exposed for his classmates to see.

They still seemed curious about his eyes and markings and even Aizawa-sensei knitted his brows when he first saw him and Izuku took that as a compliment.

“Yes Asui-san?” The girl shook her head in her croaky but cute voice. “Call me Tsuyu.”

Izuku nodded. “Sure Tsuyu.” _I’m more used to first names anyway. I hate formalities._

Iida who was sitting beside Izuku quickly turned to him while chopping his arms in the air. “How are you able to call someone with their first name so easily?!”

Izuku shrugged. “She said to call her Tsuyu so I did.”

Iida still seemed scandalized and said after a gasp. “Tha-that’s inappropriate! You should only call each other without formalities after you’ve gotten close enough for formalities to seem unnecessary!”

Izuku could only think _Wow._ And he couldn’t help the smile that crept up his face.

“Its fine, you can just get closer Tenya.” The boy gasped to the point that Izuku was worried for his lungs. The blush that followed was cute.

“Tha-that that is tha- I mean that i-is” Uraraka saved him by putting a hand over his mouth and looking over to Izuku.

“If that’s the case, call me Ochako then Izuku!” She beamed at him and Izuku returned the gesture. That sparked the other kids to start offering to their ‘squads’ to be called by their first names. Izuku couldn’t help the happy laugh he let out as he watched the scene play out. Aizawa-sensei sent then a side glance that went unnoticed by everyone but Izuku. He looked not as irritated as usual so he seemed to have liked the scene as well.

The only exception was Katsuki who glared and shouted “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STARING AT?” to anyone who would glance at him.

Izuku turned back to Asui – _Oh, I can call them by their first names now, I spent days making myself used to calling them by their last names though. What the hell, I’ll go with the last names. There would be people I wouldn’t be able to call by the first name so it’s better to be used to it even in just my head._

“What were you going to say Tsuyu?” Asui tilted her head and asked him.

“Do your eyes make you able to charm people? Is that why you cover them, to avoid people from liking you?” That got the attention of everyone in the bus even Katsuki. The silence was so abrupt that even Izuku was unnerved. He laughed as he scratched the back of his head, a gesture of Midoriya Izuku cause Katsuki was there watching after all.

“No it doesn’t... I mean, not exactly.” Their silence urged him to go on.

“When someone not used to my eyes see them, they would feel something like a pull that would make them want to look directly at it. That really helps my quirk that needs direct eye contact to be able to paralyze people. And I cover them since I’m still learning to control it. I can easily stop people’s hearts and kill them so I have to be careful since I also get a backlash and at worse I can even die.” Izuke let out a short chuckle at the joke.

The bus erupted with gasps, all looking terrified at the implications and shocked at Izuku’s last statement but Aizawa-sensei was there to save him.

“All of your quirks are dangerous and has the capacity to harm and even kill. That’s what makes your trip to the USJ important. You’ll be learning how to use your quirks for rescue and control them to not harm others and yourself. And I don’t condone disregard for one’s life Midoriya. You should all take the lesson on USJ seriously.”

Thankfully it worked and everyone’s attention was diverted to their exercise. Izuku sent a silent nod of thanks that their teacher had noticed but chose to ignore.

Izuku heard Kirishima talk with Kaminari about how his quirk wasn’t flashy enough to be popular when he graduates and Izuku found himself interrupting and starting another ten minute rant. He was only about a minute in but Kirishima started waving his arms around and asking him to stop while thanking him for the compliments over and over.

“Those weren’t compliments cause they were true Kirishima-kun” That started another rare show of bashfulness from the ‘manly’ kid.

Katsuki started shouting at them to “SHUT THE FUCK UP! THIS IS A HERO SCHOOL NOT A DATING SIMULATION!”

That outburst produced loud laughs and broke the tense atmosphere when Kaminari proposed that Katsuki must be an enthusiast since he knew about dating sims and if he did he must have always had a bad end since his personality was just like a garbage dump on fire.

The typical chaos when teenagers are in a confined space was observed by Izuku until they were finally at their destination.

Everyone got in excitedly and was amazed at the facilities inside USJ. They were also star strucked when Thirteen went forward as their professor and began explaining their exercise.

As expected, Toshinori wasn’t there because he almost used up his three hours and only had enough time for his class later that day.

Izuku was looking around when he felt it.

He turned to the plaza and saw the starting of a swirling black mist.

No one seemed to have noticed so Izuku shouted with a steady but loud voice.

“Villains in the plaza call for reinforcements now!” He turned to Kaminari who only gaped at him.

“Quickly! Before they put up a jammer!” Everyone was looking at him like he grew a second head.

_FUCK._

He pushed aside Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen and ran towards the plaza while putting up his mask and hood. The portal was finally visible and everyone understood what Izuku meant. Props to Kaminari who, as Izuku saw over his shoulder, tried to call for reinforcements but alas, it was too late.

“Damn! I can’t get through they really must’ve put up a jammer!”

He heard Aizawa-sensei shout his instruction to get back as the people began to get out of the portal. There were at least fifty villains out there and the leader seemed like he still haven’t passed through seeing that Kurogiri was still in gate form. There were a small number of villains that had masks covering their eyes but Izuku wasn’t worried at all.

He quickly got in front of them as Kurogiri’s voice resounded in the plaza and he saw a person, who Izuku presumed was the leader, step out of the gate.

_Damn, he has a hand covering his face and his hair is covering his eyes so he won’t get a clear look. Why won’t villains groom themselves better?_

“Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity but...”

“Welcome League of Villains. You won’t be forgiven but still welcome...” Izuku saw all of them look at him. Izuku showed a feral grin. “None of you will be coming out alive.”

It may be because of the adrenaline of being back in a real battlefield but Izuku fell into an old habit.

_No mercy._

He pulled at the hearts of those that had directly looked at him. _43_ Izuku counted.

“Wait for me in hell.” With his eyes he pulled and gave them the illusion of a giant dragon tearing through their chests. Like a spell, almost all of the villains fell without a scream and just laid there lifelessly.

“Who’s nex–” Izuku felt his heart clench painfully and he held his chest.

_I forgot that I haven’t used this move on so many people in a long time. And I killed them? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck._

Izuku heard Aizawa-sensei and the kid’s terrified shouts before his face met the ground and blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had a great holiday and thank you so much for still reading and leaving kudos or bookmarking or commenting and I hope you guys know that even though I'm not able to reply to them, each comment makes me squeal and melt and roll on my bed and just makes me so happy.
> 
> I'm not able to reply most of the time cause when I post in AO3 it's usually when I'm in a bad place mentally and just want to curl up in bed and read and write fanfics. And at that time I really don't have the energy to reply since I kind of block people off and not communicate when I'm stressed or sad or anything negative.
> 
> And when I'm fine again and ready to reply a few weeks have passed and I feel a bit awkward and ashamed and second guess what to say until I give up and promise to make up for it in he next update.
> 
> Well, I've been trying to slowly fix my issues that's why I'm addressing this now. I'm going to reply to all the comments to express my appreciation to all you wonderful people and try to be less awkward. I'll do that tomorrow but it's 27 here tomorrow and I read about an update on ao3 on 27 but I'm not sure if its the same time zone as mine (I'm not sure if that sentence is correct lol)
> 
> And I know the content isn't what I said last chapter but I scrapped that and made this on impulse
> 
> Tl;dr: I love you guys thanks for reading and check out my other fics if you want (yes it's shameless advertising) which will be updated before the NEW YEAR! And an angst one shot will be having a resolution.
> 
> And also chap 14 may be updated before 2019 as well.
> 
> See you next update~ :D


	14. The One Who Protects No Matter What

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku saves  
> Izuku wins  
> But at what price?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one gorey description here after the * so you can skip to the next paragraph if you want :)
> 
> And I have no beta so if you notice some errors I overlooked please tell me. When I'm invested in a chapter I tend to skip words like in last chap so you can tell me if you notice any. Thank you :)
> 
> And thanks for all the support  
> Enjoy~

Izuku wasn’t normal even when he was just a little kid.

You’d always see him either space out or read books. But sometimes he’d ask questions that shouldn’t be asked by a four year old. Izuku’s mother always said that she loved him and Izuku’s father would always bring home toys and play with him to make Izuku smiled more instead of frowning at ‘grown up books.’

Izuku read a lot and knew a lot of difficult words however, it was at six years old that Izuku had first learned the true meaning of the terms abandonment and betrayal.

On his birthday, while he was busy playing with the other kids his parents invited, Izuku started hearing voices inside his head and they were trying to talk to him. But that wasn’t the scary part, it was the fact that his whole body glowed slightly with a bright shade of gold and his messy curls of dark green hair acted like it didn’t care for gravity at all.

He didn’t hear all the startled noises made by everyone around him. He was too entranced by the soft and fluffy feeling enveloping his whole being. It was like being in a dream but knowing you’re awake. He was at the top of a mountain staring at the sun setting in the horizon. The weird thing was that everything was quiet. Not the normal kind of quiet, this gave Izuku the feeling of stagnancy. Because even though he was supposed to be at a mountain top, there was no strong breeze anywhere on his body just like the one his family went to on his fifth birthday. That feeling with the blood orange sky, at that moment was otherworldly.

“What’s happening?!”

“Get the children away! A demon has possessed him!”

“Another one of those monsters oh God, why are they also targeting the children?!”

He remembered seeing his parent’s terrified faces. They weren’t looking at their son, they were looking at a monster.

A second later, he blacked out.

.  
.  
.

He opened his eyes to see a tense Aizawa-sensei with his back facing Izuku while holding a villain with his capture weapon and threw it to another villain charging at him.

Izuku didn’t think too much about the memory of the first time his original quirk manifested and immediately stood up and looked around. The bodies of countless villains littered the ground. Izuku was sure that the ones who were writhing with pain were dealt with by Aizawa-sensei. He looked back at the entrance and saw some of the kids looking at them with immense fear in their eyes. However when they noticed that Izuku was up and awake, the amount of relief that overcame their faces to the point that they started to cry overwhelmed Izuku.

“Aizawa-sensei!” Their voices reached the plaza but the man didn’t look back and just shouted

“Stay there! Don’t even think of coming near here!”

The kids ignored Aizawa-sensei and Izuku heard Uraraka shout “Sensei! It’s Izuku! He’s he’s!” That got the man’s attention as he quickly looked back and then returned to engaging with the remaining villains this time he seemed to move more smoothly.

Izuku saw Kurogiri standing beside the kid with the hands and together with a towering... something.

 _Wait... Don’t tell me that’s what I fucking think it is._ Izuku felt like he was gonna be sick.

“iya– Midoriya!” Izuku turned to the hero who jumped back to stand directly in front of him with his back still facing Izuku.

“I’m almost done here and I’m going to deal with those three next so go to your classmates and get out of here. The one with the warp quirk said that one of the students escaped to call for help. And we ARE having a conversation after this." He didn’t wait for Izuku’s answer and went back to fighting. There were significantly lesser villains than there were before so he didn’t look spent and moved quickly and efficiently.

He looked back at the three villains. The one with the hands looked agitated, kept scratching his neck and mumbled something like ‘game over’. He looked at the entrance where Uraraka, Ashido, Shouji, Sero and Sato stood and with Thirteen down on the ground. There were many questions running through Izuku’s head.

_Where are the rest of the class? What happened to Thirteen? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WHILE I WAS DEAD?!_

Izuku then saw movement from the side. He saw the leader run with unexpected speed with an outstretched hand just as Aizawa-sensei’s hair started falling down, indicating that he wasn’t using his quirk. Izuku had no time to think and ran to the hero and push him out of the way and now the villain was coming at him.

Izuku’s eyes made sure that he noticed even the smallest and fastest details with delay so instead of being grabbed by the villain, Izuku reacted by ducking quickly while trying to sweep the villain’s feet off the ground.

Unfortunately, the villain seemed to be just as fast as him if not, even faster in jumping and delivering a strong kick at Izuku’s head making him hit the ground with a loud thud. He didn’t care about the pain and damage he received and rolled over and stood up.

He saw Aizawa-sensei sending his capture weapon towards the villain who swiftly dodged and touched it. As soon as he did, the capture weapon began crumbling and quickly stopped as Aizawa-sensei used his quirk.

“It’s some sort of a destruction quirk activated through touch! Watch out for his hands and don’t get caught!” Izuku shouted and didn’t hear Aizawa-sensei’s shout as he ran towards the villain, carefully watching for any movement from Kurogiri and the... Noumu.

 _Damn you All-for-One._ Izuku thought with a snarl.

Izuku didn’t have the time to use his Dragon Eyes at them since the hands villain started aiming at him.

_I can’t get caught by that quirk, they’ll see me regenerating and it would surely catch that bastard’s attention._

The hair of the villain was really getting in the way. Izuku needed a clear unobstructed view of their eyes while they looked at his for the quirk to work and Izuku wasn’t getting the opportunity to use it.

“What did you do to the weaklings, kid?” The villain asked as Aizawa-sensei used his capture weapon to wrap around Izuku’s torso and drag him to his side. The villain just stood there and looked at them. His eyes were especially locked on Izuku.

“You killed them didn’t you?” The grin was apparent from his tone even if it was covered by hand that served as his mask.

“You killed them without hesitation.” There was laughter in his voice that sounded almost manic. “Are you sure you’re fit to be a hero?” His voice was becoming more hysterical “You’re just like us. You can just come to our side and we’ll let you kill a whole lot more. You can’t do that as a hero, can you?” His laugh grated on Izuku’s ears.

_Oh, wow. He has issues._

Before Izuku could respond, Aizawa-sensei charged at the villain and when he spoke the anger in his voice was apparent.

“Don’t you dare compare any of my students with you. You forced them into this situation and you are in no position to judge them.” Izuku charged and attacked with his teacher, using his eyes to see Aizawa-sensei’s moves clearly to be able to attack in a perfect combination.

The villain barely dodged his and Aizawa-sensei’s relentless attacks and appeared to be more agitated by the second. After rolling on the ground, the villain jumped back to Kurogiri’s side.

He glared at the two of them. “Since the other pro heroes are about to come, it’s already game over.” Izuku knew it was too good to be true if they were about to stop their attack. “But we can at least damage All Might’s pride if we kill everyone here.” He laughed again.

“Noumu kill Eraserhead for me first.”

The moment those words left the villain’s mouth, the Noumu charged at Aizawa-sensei. Izuku’s eyes quickly went to the villain whose hair was out of his eyes from the wind the Noumu created when it moved. He had no time to paralyze him but it was enough. He jumped back until the students at the entrance, Tsuyu and Mineta who were hiding by the bushes and even Katsuki, Kirishima and Todoroki who stood there in disbelief during the hand villain’s dialogue and his short fight with him and Aizawa-sensei were all seen by Izuku and now they were within his vision. Izuku then shouted with his loudest voice.

“LOOK AT ME!”

Then Izuku felt it. They were looking. Izuku activated his quirk. He showed a hallucination and made them unable to see what was happening in the real world.

 _Good._ Izuku thought as he jumped in front of Aizawa-sensei and readied himself to receive the attack.

He wasn’t able to include Aizawa-sensei in the hallucination because he was beside him. Izuku knew he was still connected to the hallucination so whatever he said would be heard within it. So with his back against the man, he uttered the only warning he can say.

“It’s fine, just...” He felt his muscles tear as he received the attack and pain was all he could feel.

“Don’t look.”

\--

Katsuki saw it.

He saw the moment the nerd’s expression changed from contemplative as he looked around USJ to something Katsuki couldn’t describe when he turned to the plaza. Then the nerd shouted “Villains in the plaza call for reinforcements now!”

There was a moment everyone stopped moving and talking. They all looked at the nerd and saw his expression fill with frustration. “Quickly! Before they put up a jammer!”

What he said didn’t make any sense to any of them.

_A villain attack in U.A? You have got to be kidding m–_

The nerd began to run and jump down the tall stairs with great ease. And then they saw it.

“Shit!” He heard their teacher say under his breath as he put on his goggles.

“Thirteen start evacuation. Kaminari, use your quirk to contact the school. I’ll get Midoriya.”

The swirling mist at the center of the plaza became bigger and out of that portal came a crowd of villains.

“Damn! I can’t get through they really must’ve put up a jammer!”

Round face tried to go down the stairs but Glasses stopped her. She looked at their teacher with panic in her eyes.

“He said his eyes let him see things clearly even when he’s far. He must’ve seen the portal before it opened. He warned us but we didn’t move! Let’s help him sensei!” Her voice became a desperate shout by the end and that woke the rest of them and looked at the nerd’s back as he ran towards the increasing number of villains.

“He’s strong but he won’t be able to handle that many villains kero.” Frog face said as she took a step forward and beside Round face.

“And even if he could–” Everyone stopped as a voice came from the portal and said that they were the League of Villains.

Katsuki was about to jump at the voice from where he stood but then the nerd started talking. They didn’t hear him clearly but seconds later almost every last one of the villains fell to the ground with very few that remained standing including the hand freak and the giant villain with the exposed brain that stepped out of the portal last.

He heard gasps around him and felt a shiver down his spine. Those villains didn’t look like they were paralyzed or unconscious they looked like they were...

_FUCK!_

He looked at the nerds back and felt his body tremble with anger.

“Even if he could” They all turned to Frog face who was shaking despite her calm expression. She all looked at them with terror and she tried hard to keep her voice stable. “He may not be able to control his quirk and receive some great backlash like he said earlier.”

They all quickly looked as the nerd became stiff as a board and clenched his hand over his chest.

Katsuki felt the moment his own heart stopped moving and his breath hitched as the nerd closed in on himself and fell on the ground, looking just as lifeless as the other villains.

Katsuki couldn’t think. “DEKUUUUU!”

He could hear his heart in his ears and was ready to go down the stairs and kill every last villain out there when a white cloth wrapped around his torso and pulled him back. He was about to shout at their teacher when he saw the expression of pure anger on his face.

“Thirteen get them out of here now.” Aizawa-sensei said in a low voice and Thirteen nodded quickly.

He saw him jumped down and began beating up any villain that dare come close to the nerd. He wanted him to see, to check his pulse if he was still...

“DAMN!” Katsuki couldn’t help the explosion that came out of his hands. No one reacted since they were all still out of it.

Thirteen was urging them to move but no one did. He was about to protest and go down there when they saw a black mist form in front of them. Obstructing their view of the fight below.

“I’m sorry but I can’t let any of you interfere. It’s a good thing that we didn’t underestimate you. However, we hadn’t expected that the level of the first years was this high. It’s a good thing that one of you has already died–”

“SHUT UP AND DIE!” Katsuki charged with all he’s got and was surprised to be accompanied by some red haired idiot.

The Foggy bastard dodge. “Ahh that was close.”

Katsuki’s eyes sharpened. _He’s not all mist. He must have a physical body under that mist._

With that in his head, Katsuki was prepared to attack again but the villain got them first.

“My job is to scatter you.” Katsuki heard as the black mist surrounded them and the next thing he knew he was with Shitty hair inside a building filled with villains.

Katsuki felt like we was about to explode with anger, so he did.

“DIE VILLAINS!”

\--  
_He couldn’t die._

_Their classmate Midoriya Izuku was smart and strong so he couldn’t die just like that._

Yaoyorozu couldn’t help the tears coming out of her eyes as he attacked another villain with Jirou and Kaminari. Kaminari was shaking and looked very distraught.

“Oh God, it’s my fault. It’s my fault if I just followed what he told me to do he wouldn’t have–”

“Shut up idot!” Jirou said as she used her quirk to push some of the villains back. “It’s no one’s fault and he’s not dead for God’s sake. Stop blaming yourself and help us here now!” She would have been persuasive if her voice didn’t shake once in a while.

Yaoyorozu took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She willed her voice to not falter.

“Jirou-san’s right. Let’s finish things here so we can help Aizawa-sensei and Midoriya-san.”

_Please be alright everyone._

\--

Shouto is not alright.

He froze the ground and the villains around him with a trembling hand.

He went to one frozen villain that was begging for mercy and looked him in the eyes. He couldn’t stop the shaking of his voice from anger.

“What did you think gave you the right to come here and expect to receive any mercy?” He felt his fire side burn under his skin with fury, making the ice that covered half of his body slowly turn to steam.

Shouto was mad at himself. He was mad that he wasn’t as alert as Midoriya was when the villains came out, he was mad that he wasn’t able to do anything to the villain with the warping quirk and he was mad at himself for just looking at Midoriya’s back when he faced the crowd of villains and felt safety. He immediately felt that Midoriya would solve everything and keep them safe.

_I was complacent and expected Midoriya to solve the problem instead of doing it myself. I was almost like..._

Shouto suppressed his left side that threatened to burst die to his anger. He controlled his emotions and looked at the person in front of him.

“Tell me why you’re here.” Shouto said as he put his right hand closer to the villain’s face. When he gathered enough information, he pit them to sleep and ran out of the Landslide Zone.

_I won’t be like Endeavour. I won’t rely on anyone to do what I need to do._

_Wait for me, I’m coming to save you._

\--

Ochako couldn’t wait for help.

Iida was running towards the entrance but the warp villain was behind him. Then she saw the plates that were on the neck of the villain. She didn’t any time to ask for help so she took the gravity off her as she jumped towards the villain. She touched the metal and thankfully, it worked. With the help of Shouji, Sero and Sato, they were able to throw the villain away and Iida was able to go out and ask for help.

The villain then went back to the hand villain’s side and watched Aizawa-sensei fight with the villains that weren’t affected by Izuku’s quirk.

_Izuku._

She looked down at their friend that was lying on the ground.

“Guys! Thirteen is okay!” Ashido’s teary voice made them go and talk to their teacher who only said that they should just stay there and wait for the other teachers to arrive.

Then they stood at the top of the stairs. They felt despair as they watched Aizawa-sensei protect Izuku while they did nothing. But then after a while something incredible happened.

“Aizawa-sensei!” They couldn’t help being emotional as they shout for their teacher to turn around. But he didn’t.

“Stay there! Don’t even think of coming near here!”

Ochako took a deep breath in before shouting with all she had. “Sensei! It’s Izuku! He’s he’s!” she couldn’t finish as her breath hitched. She could also see her classmates wipe their eyes as they smiled at each other.

_Yeah, it feels like everything’s gonna get better._

\--

Everything is getting worse for Eijirou.

First of all, he had to witness his manliest classmate face a hoard of villains and he isn’t even sure if he’s alright.

He felt ashamed that he wasn’t able to do anything. Midoriya did all he can even though it was difficult for him to control his quirk.

_Even though he killed– no no it wasn’t his fault. I just he’ll still be there for us to tell him it’s alright._

Eijirou sighed as he willed himself to stay strong.

Second reason why everything was getting worse for him was because Bakubro wouldn’t calm down. He attacked villains left and right and he wouldn’t stop and when they finished all the villains in the building Bakubro quickly went out to go to where Midoriya was.

Eijirou of course wouldn’t object to helping Midoriya and Aizawa-sensei but he was just concerned about his friend.

_At least I think were friends?_

Eijirou shrugged. The third reason why things were getting worse was because they met Todoroki when they were near the plaza and Eijirou felt that they were seconds from killing each other. They didn’t say anything to each other as they walked but if looks could kill then...

“Holy shit.” Eijirou couldn’t believe what he saw in front of him.

“Midoriya’s alive! Guys he’s alive! I knew it!”

He turned to the two but he just saw their shocked expressions as they looked at Midoriya. The villain stopped talking when Aizawa-sensei attacked him but what made Kirishima’s jaw drop was when Midoriya joined him.

“What the hell, that’s amazing!” Eijirou couldn’t help but whisper-yell as he saw Midoriya effortlessly match Aizawa-sensei as they overwhelmed the villain. Their teacher being a badass fighter was a given but damn Midoriya really held back during the battle exercise–

 _Oh._ Eijirou looked at the wide-eyed expression of two of the three people Midoriya fought during their class with All Might. _Damn it’s alright guys._

Kirishima was about to say that when everything went to absolute shit.

“Since the other pro heroes are about to come, it’s already game over. But we can at least damage All Might’s pride if we kill everyone here.” He heard the villain laugh.

“Noumu kill Eraserhead for me first.” The monster-like villain began to move. The pressure it let out was too much but then he heard Midoriya’s voice.

“LOOK AT ME!”

Which he did. Eijirou saw Midoriya’s eyes before everything around him became dark. He didn’t saw the trees or Midoriya or Aizawa-sensei or the villain with the exposed brain. He turned to Bakubro and Todoroki and saw that they were also looking around in panic. The hands villain and the warp villain was also there as were their classmates at the entrance.

“What the fuck happened Kurogiri?!” He heard the hands villain say.

“I... I don’t know Shigaraki Tomura but... I can’t use my quirk.”

“WHAT?!”

He heard Bakubro curse and looked like he was preparing to attack the warp villain or Kurogiri but then something caught everyone’s attention.

Dark clouds were above them and inside those clouds were a pair of beautiful giant golden eyes.

 _Those are Midoriya’s._ Eijirou wanted to say but he couldn’t talk or even move.

It felt like forever when they heard a voice around them.

“It’s fine” Midoriya’s voice never sounded as soothing and otherworldly as what they were hearing now. Eijirou still felt scared but he trusted Midoriya.

“Just... Don’t look.” Eijirou didn’t understand but if he was telling them not to look at his eyes, well it was a hard request. Eijirou looked around even to the ones in the entrance.

_Yup, everyone’s looking._

_\--_

No one else was looking except Shouta.

His mouth was open and his face was surely pale.

“What...” When he went out of his daze, he ran to his student.

“Midoriya!” He immediately crouched down beside Midoriya. The top of his hero costume was destroyed and he was covered in blood and the pants were in tatters and only reached his knee.

The instant the villain with the exposed brain charged to him, Midoriya shouted something and jumped in front of him. He told Shouta not to look but he couldn’t. Not when he saw his student’s arms fly out of their shoulders, not when his body was covered with his own blood as his back the wall and not when his student gave his life to protect him.

_What kind of a teacher am I?!_

Shouta’s body shook with anger at himself and at the villains. Normally, he’d take time to control his emotions to calm himself down and think rationally. But this...

*THUD*

He glared at the monster.

“Take one more step and I’ll end you.” Shouta gripped his capture weapon it was damaged at the tip but overall he was in good condition. Shouta was barely injured while his student was...

Shouta couldn’t control his emotions. And just when he was about to attack, a hand held on his shoulder. That made Shouta look at his deceased student. But when he did the air was caught in his lungs. *His jaw was hanging off his face and the top half of his face was oozing with blood, his neck was bent at an impossible angle and his arms were REATTACHING itself to Midoriya’s body and the legs that were broken at so many places began straightening itself.

Shouta heard the bones crack as he watch his student’s breath come back to him. He coughed violently and he spit blood. Shouta didn’t understand what was happening and just stared. He saw Midoriya take a deep breath before looking at him.

“Are you okay?” Shouta wasn’t able to respond due to shock and everything that was happening right now.

A glint of understanding shone in Midoriya’s eyes and he smiled a self-deprecating smile which hurt Shouta’s heart.

“I told you not to look.” He didn’t look at Shouta as he stood up and walked to the monster.

The back of his student, the back of a kid... Shouta has neven seen something that looked so lonely in all his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!
> 
> This is only the first part, the second would be at 30 or 31 to end/start the new year with a bang!
> 
> I was going to post this with the second part as one closer to new year but your comments really touched me so much im still rereading them with a goffy smile thanks guys *sends virtual hug*
> 
> As always thanks for reading and you can leave kudos, comment or bookmark if you want. I love you guys stay safe! :D


	15. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku can see himself fine without a mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late. The reason why is below.
> 
> Enjoy ~

Izuku felt disgusted as he looked at the Noumu in front of him.

  


_ Fuck. _

  
  


Izuku stood in front of Aizawa-sensei to shield him from the Noumu. He felt his organs healing itself as he slowly took steps closer to the villain. And quickly, he felt the familiar coldness in his body as the golden scales began appearing on especially on his limbs, torso and on his cheeks and forehead. The familiar heaviness that his body felt helped Izuku block the distress he’s feeling right now. It helped remind him that he was currently in a fight and didn’t have the time to dwell on things that didn’t involve keeping the kids safe and capturing the villains. Izuku looked at the Noumu again.

  
  


_ That attack was really strong. It really was intended to kill. _

  
  


Normally, it would take bit longer for Izuku to accumulate enough damage for the scales to appear but just from that one punch, Izuku was entirely combat ready. Everyone was still connected to him so they were still under the hallucination but he wasn’t sure if he could keep that up while he was fighting something as powerful as the Noumu. Even then, Izuku has no choice. He just needed to finish this as quickly as he could.

  
  


“Aizawa-se– No, Eraserhead keep everyone safe in case some of the other villains wake up. They won’t be able to defend themselves so I’ll leave them to you. I’m going to take care of this one.”

  
  


He didn’t expect an answer so when he heard none, Izuku just made a bitter smile. He shrugged and gazed at the man’s eyes behind the goggles.

  
  


“I can put you under the same illusion as the others if you want. I can look out for all of you. You don’t need to watch this.” Izuku was still aware of the Noumu’s slow steps but he waited for Aizawa-sensei to answer him.

  
  


The man was about to open his mouth when the Noumu made its move.

  
  


At the corner of his eyes, he saw the Noumu speed past him to attack Aizawa-sensei but Izuku was ready and took a step forward to intercept. That one step took him directly in front of the Noumu. He dug his feet to the ground until he was almost ankle deep and he clutched the Noumu’s sides with a grip the dug deeply into the flesh so the Noumu couldn’t move. Since Izuku was short, added with the fact that his feet were buried under the concrete ground, he was only able to reach the Noumu’s torso.

  
  


_ This may be one of the worst shits I’ve done but fuck it. My life is one big ‘what the fuck’ so nothing’s new. _

  
  


That was Izuku’s last thought before he shut his eyes tight and took a deep breath and rammed his head into the Noumu’s torso. A monstrous shriek was released by the Noumu as Izuku’s head tore through flesh, past muscles and then through the organs until he head another tearing sound. His shoulder was starting to tear through as well but he didn’t have enough leverage.

  
  


_ This is disgusting, fuck. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. _

  
  


Izuku took off his grip from the Noumu’s side and instead he snaked his arms into where his head was. As always, the sound of flesh tearing and the smell of bloody innards made Izuku want to vomit and kill himself but despite that, his body still moved efficiently, ruthlessly and without wasting a single second. Lives were on the line and no matter how hypocritical it sounded coming from Izuku, he cherished life.

  
  


_ Well, at least the lives of people who were out in the light. Those people who still have bright hopes for their future. _

  
  


He felt the Noumu grab his legs and tried to pull him out of his stomach but Izuku was quick with making his scale-covered arm pierce through the stomach and out into the Noumu’s back. The Noumu shrieked once again, this time was more menacing than before. Izuku then felt punches to his legs and then hands trying to bend it to impossible angles but Izuku just put his other arm through the torso and into the back. He didn’t mind letting the Noumu try, he really was indestructible in this state and no matter how powerful the Noumu was, Izuku would never break.

  
  


_ This body is meant to bear the burden of an eternal life.  _ **_You_ ** _ think this measly strength is enough to break me? This is why you’ll always be a brat to me All-for-One. _

  
  


Izuku’s hands gripped the flesh outside and he used it to pull his head and tear through the Noumu, finally making Izuku pierce through it. He could feel the Noumu regenerating from within and at the same time trying to split him in half. However, it didn’t work on Izuku and the wound remained open and blood continuously flowed from it. He opened his eyes to see the ground and the back of the legs of the Noumu which had given up on breaking Izuku legs and pulling him out of its body. The Noumu then jumped and even if Izuku couldn’t see where it was going, he was sure it was headed towards Aizawa-sensei.

  
  


Without another thought, Izuku turned his body over until he was facing the sky. He reached up and climbed up the Noumu’s back, this caused his own torso and his legs to also go through the Noumu’s body. He ignored the creature’s shrieks and climbed until his arms were wrapped around the Noumu’s neck. Izuku was able to look over its shoulder and see Aizawa-sensei ready to dodge the Noumu’s assault even though they both knew that the man wouldn’t be fast enough to actually avoid most of the attack.

  
  


Izuku and Aizawa-sensei’s eyes connected, even with the man’s goggles on, and Izuku couldn’t help the desperation that his voice had when he shouted.

  
  


“LOOK AWAY!” Another second and Aizawa-sensei didn’t move. Izuku tightened his hold on the Noumu’s neck and gritted his teeth. “TRUST ME!”

  
  


And Izuku was thankful as fuck when Aizawa-sensei turned his head away from the creature hanging from another creature that was heading towards him.

  
  


_ Thanks.  _ Izuku then looked at the back of the head of the Noumu.  _ I’m sorry. _

  
  


Then with the strength enough to tear through steel like butter, Izuku clutched the Noumu’s neck and  **ripped** it from its body. The shrieks stopped. The giant body then fell forward to the ground.

  
  


Izuku then slowly stood up and walked a meter away from the body. He felt sticky and disgusting and when he looked down he saw that every step he took left a fucking bloody footprint. That’s when he realized that he was completely soaked in blood and he probably looked like a crazy serial killer.

  
  


_ Why is this my life?  _

  
  


Izuku lamented inside and when Aizawa-sensei turned to him, Izuku automatically let out a reassuring smile. And let out words aimed not just at the man, but to the kids in USJ as well.

  
  


“You’re all safe.” And it only took Aizawa-sensei’s horrified expression to make Izuku realize how fucked up he look. He’s covered in blood and he’s acting like he didn’t just used his body to tear a whole through the Noumu’s stomach.

  
  


_ YOU FUCKING DUMBASS! _

  
  


Izuku thought as he slowly took the smile off his face and replaced it with a serious expression. He buried his self hatred and internal panic as he wiped his face with his bloody hands. It didn’t necessarily clean the blood off his face but at least it wasn’t dripping off his chin anymore.

  
  


“Aiza–” He took a step forward and Aizawa-sensei quickly stepped back. Izuku knew that the man was overwhelmed and is no condition to think calmly right now. So Izuku did the only thing he could at the moment. He jumped to Aizawa-sensei’s face and knocked him out with the weakest strike he has.

  
  


As Izuku looked at the man sprawled on the ground. At worst, he’s gonna have a concussion when he wakes up but he didn’t want to use his eyes on him to make him sleep since he still has many people under his quirk so his control over it is a bit unstable. He looked over to the kids and the two villains. They were still looking at the ceiling of the USJ. Since the start of the fight until now, they’ve been seeing a large pair of golden eyes hidden within dark clouds. He was just about to undo his quirk and go to the two villains and deal with them when the doors to the USJ opened.

  
  


Toshinori came in and was about to shout something when his eyes landed on Izuku’s bloody form. His mouth remained open and he looked very much lost and horrified. Izuku couldn’t help but click his tongue. He undid his quirk, making everyone faint. Izuku saw the panic and confusion from Toshinori as the kids by the entrance and the ones near plaza fell down.

  
  


“You’re late.”

  
  


Even though Izuku didn’t shout, his voice was loud enough for Toshinori to hear him loud and clear. Izuku wanted to be angry at him. Tell him that this was the consequence of for not listening to him. But Izuku knows. He knows that this was his own fault. He played the part of a lunatic to Toshinori. Of course he couldn’t be trusted.

  
  


Izuku also knows that he couldn’t be completely sane anymore; he could never be, not after all the things he’d seen and done. But this body, this quirk, wouldn’t accept an insane vessel so he’s lucid most of the time. There would only be times when his insanity would leak out, when everything would be too much and when Izuku would be on the brink of breaking. But after those insanity fits were over, everything would be fine. His quirk made sure of it.

  
  


So what should Izuku do? How should he act? Many things were running through his head but Izuku was starting to get tired from all of it. He didn’t want to think and no matter how much he would regret it later, he just didn’t care at the moment. This isn’t the usual Izuku but since he woke up as Midoriya Izuku, everything’s been even more fucked up. The careful balance he’d built within himself crumbled down until nothing else was left behind besides the pure desires that resided within him.

  
  


_ SaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleepSaveKillProtectDieLiveWinFightRestSleep _

  
  


The desires he had when he still believed that he was human and the desires he gained when he resigned himself to the fact that he was a monster. They surfaced and made it hard for Izuku to think the way he used to. He didn’t have to enter U.A as a student, but he gave himself excuses for it to be acceptable. He didn’t have to take first place in the entrance exam and attract attention towards himself, but he fooled himself into thinking that it was necessary despite all the other options that were available.

  
  


EVERY.SINGLE.DECISION. Izuku has made after waking up has been influenced by those desires inside him.

  
  


Izuku looked at Toshinori who was frozen at the entrance. Izuku looked at the headless Noumu twitching at the ground. Izuku looked at the people laying around him, the ones who were unconscious and the ones who were dead. Izuku sighed.

  
  


He wasn’t a schemer by nature. He wasn’t really good at acting. He wasn’t good at manipulating others. But what he was good at... was lying to himself. So despite the turmoil inside Izuku’s head and despite the exhaustion he felt mentally and emotionally, Izuku told himself lies.

  
  


_ This doesn’t bother me. I’m a monster that had lived for a long time so no one expects any human emotions from me. It’s fine. I’m fine. _

  
  


Izuku lied to himself, like he did every day. 

  
  


Izuku lied to himself. 

  
  


Izuku lied. 

  
  


Izuku... “Why are you just standing there? This your first time seeing someone drenched in blood?” ...bared his teeth and smiled. “Don’t act like such a zygote.”

  
  


Izuku knows how this looks like. He knows what kind of image he has in Toshinori’s mind. Izuku admits it. This doesn’t look good. He was planning on clearing things up with Toshinori slowly in the future and at least make Toshinori trust him with the kids, make him realize that Izuku won’t harm them and that they’re safest when they’re with Izuku. 

  
  


But Izuku knows when to admit defeat.

  
  


“Please don’t reuse my teacher’s words.” Toshinori appeared in front of him with a frown. Izuku didn’t even bat an eye at the speed of the Number One Hero and just remained smiling.

  
  


“Gran got those words from me though?” Izuku titled his head to the side with a thoughtful expression, some of the blood on his hair dripping to the ground.

  
  


Izuku looked at the direction of the Noumu that was starting to regenerate. A new head was starting to grow and the hole on the stomach was closing. Izuku, once again, felt disgusted but he just smiled again and looked at Toshinori in the eyes.

  
  


“That thing that All-for-One’s pawn brought.” He pointed at the Noumu and Toshinori looked at it. His disgusted expression perfectly showing what Izuku felt inside. 

  
  


“That’s an experiment he’s been working on for many many years. It’s called Noumu.” 

  
  


Then it began standing up once again and looked at them.

  
  


“It’s strong. It regenerates.”  _ It’s like me.  _ Those were Izuku’s unspoken words that he was sure Toshinori heard.

  
  


Izuku pointed at it again.

  
  


“Destroy it.” Toshinori looked at Izuku with wide eyes and Izuku still smiled up at him. His smile got wider.

  
  


_ It reminds you of me, right? Aren’t you frustrated? Someone like me is trusted by Nezu. Someone like me is by your side but you can’t do anything to me. I’m a villain to you, no... you see me as an insane monster, right? It’s fine. Destroy it. Imagine me on that Noumu and kill it. _

  
  


_ It’s fine if you see me as an insane monster. _

  
  


“It’s fine Toshinori. It’s a monster. It doesn’t feel a thing.” Slight hesitation flashed on Toshinori’s face before he went to the Noumu and started a slugfest. Izuku watched as Toshinori didn’t even look the slightest bit perturbed at the Noumu’s bizarre appearance. He didn’t feel the slightest bit scared or intimidated.

  
  


_ That’s right. Why would you be scared by anything that the villains throw at you?  _

  
  


Toshinori quickly looked back at Izuku as he easily dodged the Noumu’s fist. Izuku’s smile widened to the point that the corners of his mouth threatened to rip.

  
  


_ The scariest monster is right behind you. _

  
  


Yes, Izuku knows when to admit defeat.

  
  


Toshinori punched the Noumu without any hesitation.

  
  


But Izuku knows how to turn a defeat into an advantage. Call it the fruit of his experience or whatever but in all of his years, besides lying to himself, Izuku’s learned how much to those lies he tells himself affect those around him. If he’s able to deceive himself, how can he not be able to deceive others. So yes, his failure of making Toshinori think that he’s incapable of being sane, the lie that Izuku would now tell himself, Izuku would use it to his advantage.

  
  


They’re going to face All-for-One sooner or later. Toshinori can’t be afraid or worried of his nemesis so Izuku will put himself as the thing that Toshinori needs to watch out for the most. So that when the time comes for Toshinori to face that bastard, he won’t be thinking of anything unnecessary. Why?

  
  


_ Because I’m here. _

  
  


_ The monster. The insane immortal. The thing you’re scared of the most. That thing is fighting alongside you. It’s fighting the same enemy. You would be fighting alongside me. Wouldn’t that be the most reassuring thing in the world? So it’s alright to fear me, be cautious of me and to be alert towards me. Because the more you acknowledge my inhumanness, the more you’re making me into an invaluable and dependable ally Toshinori. _

  
  


Since Toshinori wasn’t looking at him, Izuku let go of the insane expression and just settled for a wry smile.

  
  


_ Ahhh, what have I gotten myself into? Kill me now. _

  
  


Izuku looked around.

  
  


_ Ah... The audience is starting to wake up. Their timing is good. Better get into position.  _

  
  


Izuku then laid himself on the ground face down. His scales have also disappeared.

  
  


“ALL MIGHT!” “IT’S ALL MIGHT!” “WE’RE SAVED!” “Thank Go– OH MY GOD! IS THAT IZUKU?!” “OH SHIT! HE’S COVERED IN BLOOD!” “ALL MIGHT SENSEI PLEASE SAVE MIDORIYA!” “MIDORIYA-KUN!”

  
  


_ Yup, just in time.  _

  
  


Izuku thought from his lying position on the ground. He probably looked dead right now but that’s just his internal feelings being brought out in the open.

  
  


_ Ahhh, I’m tired. How long would it take for Nezu to come here?  _ Izuku closed his eyes and listened.

  
  


And as if his friend heard him, Izuku heard the doors open once again along with Iida’s announcement of bringing reinforcements and Nezu’s voice as he ordered the heroes he brought with him.

  
  


The rest of the USJ incident ended with the two main villain’s retreat with the hands villain’s whining and the Noumu being punched out of USJ. Toshinori didn’t even sweat since Izuku had dealt with it earlier. Regeneration of that scale is tiring for those that weren’t experienced with it.

  
  


Izuku still heard the kids cry about him. Izuku really felt bad by possibly traumatizing them but he’s been nagging Nezu to improve U.A’s mental health care services so Izuku’s slightly less worried. He also believed that this experience would really help them grow and improve and even though he would never wish for them to learn like this, what’s done is done and Izuku could only bear with it and make the best out of it.

  
  


After a while he heard some of his classmates run to him but thank God that Cementos was there to cover him.

  
  


“Izuku-sama? The coast is clear.” Izuku looked up to see Cementos’ frowning face. Izuku then slowly stood up, stretched his body and made his neck crack.

  
  


He looked at Toshinori’s back as he walked towards the entrance of the USJ while carrying Aizawa-sensei’s unconscious body. He’s probably worried about the kids.

  
  


As Izuku wiped his body with the cloth Cementos brought him, Izuku looked at the hole in the ceiling that the Noumu went through.

  
  


_ All-for-One really succeeded with using my blood and body parts for the basis of the regeneration of the Noumu huh? _

  
  


Another memory threatened to flash but Izuku just shook his head.

  
  


_ Really All-for-One, you’re making this one see what he looks like to other people. Good job, it really felt like I was looking at a mirror. _

  
  


Izuku couldn’t help the sad smile creeping on his face.

  
  


_ As if I didn’t already know that I was nothing more than an ugly and pathetic monster. _

  
  


“Are you alright Izuku-sama?” Came Cementos’ worried voice.

  
  


Izuku looked at him with a small smile and said his most used lie.

  
  
“I’m fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had another 1k words but that was in another POV and I decided to keep it purely an Izuku chapter.
> 
> Well, guess who was the unlucky bastard who fucked up his hands last new year? Yep, don't get in your friend's car when said friend is drunk. I feel so stupid remembering that.
> 
> In a week of two my bones would be completely healed, I hope. But hey I hope you guys greeted the new year in a better way than I did. Btw I got the worst from that so no one else was hurt, if anyone was wondering.
> 
> I'm not promising anything but I nay update this and my other fics next or next next week I'm not really sure but yeah.
> 
> Once again, thanks to everyone I love you guys and stay safe! I'll slowly reply to everyone thjs week :D See you next update~


	16. Unfold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See things from a different perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how many drafts of this I've dropped but what can I do?
> 
> This and the next chapter are a kind of a breather or something like a build up for the next arc.
> 
> Enjoy ~

Shouta was a kid that didn’t have many friends since he was naturally introverted and tended to not join the kids playing on the sand box and kids always wanted to pick on the ones different from them. His quirk wasn’t flashy but it was powerful. He could ‘erase’ people’s quirks while he was looking at them although at that age, he could only ‘erase’ it for maximum of three seconds. Fortunately, it was enough to help him outrun the baffled bullies since he couldn’t possibly fight them with his bare hands.

  
  


When he grew a bit older, three seconds turned to ten and the kids at school couldn’t fit him with simple categories such as strong and interesting with flashy quirks, harmless with weak quirks or useless and without a quirk. Maybe that was why everyone just labelled him as the ‘weird kid who likes to erase quirks’ and continued bullying him while Shouta continued ignoring them cause he knew that those people would get tired soon enough. But the appearance of one quirkless transfer kid in their school when Shouta was in his second year of middle school shifted the attention away from him.

  
  


Of course, Shouta could’ve just thanked his luck for having an easy way out from all the fuss of his schoolmates, but then he knew that he’d never hear the end of it from his nagging mother. And in the first place, he wouldn’t be able to stomach letting another person bear the brunt of the bullying that kids his age seemed addicted to doing.

  
  


So he did the only thing he knew at that age that would help. He fought with the bullies in his school. He knew that it was reckless and sloppy and after a month of actively fighting off the bullies every day, Shouta had not only gained a taint in his school records but also a new friend. For the first time in a long while, Shouta felt happy and alive.

  
  


However, his mother didn’t share the same sentiments and grounded him for a week in addition to the two weeks of suspension that he got for sending three bullies to the hospital. Honestly, Shouta was more scared of his mother’s punishment than the one that the school gave him. His genius mother, who didn’t have a quirk, didn’t need any to make everyone around her feel intimidated with just one irritated look.

  
  


And Shouta was right. After that, he was made to attend various self-defense classes under his mother’s personal friend that focused on his coordination, dexterity, speed and stealth. He was the only student in the class and after a few meetings, Shouta concluded that the other students must have quitted before he even came because the trainer was a demon. He had complained at first and for a couple of weeks that was all Shouta could talk about with the friend that he’d made with the bullying incident.

  
  


Halfway through his second year, his mother gave him a prototype of the cloth capture device that she personally made for him and his trainer then incorporated that into his training. Neither his mother nor his trainer taught him how to use it and left it to Shouta to figure out the mechanics of the device.

  
  


Through all this, his friend listened to all of the developments in his life and in turn Shouta taught his friend what he learned so that he could defend himself from bullies when Shouta wasn’t with him. They shared their dreams of being a hero and Shouta supported his friend and encouraged him to try and become the first quirkless hero. His own training continued even when he got into U.A and stopped after he won the sports festival during his first year with his barely decent control over his capture device.

  
  


Shouta also stayed connected with his friend that applied for the general education from a hero school from a different district. Their school also had a sports festival that had the possibility of a gen ed student transferring like he did during his first year. His friend was trying for the second time to transfer and Shouta was nothing but supportive to his friend. They always messaged each other and Shouta’s dry humor always cheered his friend up when he was struggling at his school.

  
  


It was a week after all the sports festivals in japan had ended and Shouta hadn’t heard anything from his friend. He knew that his friend wasn’t able to pass the first round and was likely to be sad. It was Saturday when Shouta decided to ride the train and visit him. Yamada Hizashi, the loud idiot that was unfortunately seated next to him and made his hero name, insisted that he accompany Shouta when he found out about his intent to visit a friend. Shouta was honestly too done with life to try and refuse Hizashi so he ended up visiting his friend’s house with a plus one.

  
  


What greeted him there were the sight of many people going in and out of the house in black clothing and the grieving sight of his friend’s parents. Hizashi helped him get inside since his shaking legs couldn’t have possibly gotten him anywhere.

  
  


He ended up shaking even more when he saw who was inside the coffin in the house and when a letter was given to him by his friend’s mother. It was the first time Shouta ever cried openly and he didn’t care since as he read through his friend’s last letter addressed to him, Shouta couldn’t help but blame himself.

  
  


His friend lost all hope of becoming a hero and he couldn’t even tell anyone he was suffering because everyone supported him in his dreams and he couldn’t ever dream of letting them down. Shouta was one of those people. He was one of the reasons why his friend felt helpless and with no one to turn to. He was one of the people that encouraged him in his dreams even when he knew how hard it was to get into heroics especially for people without a quirk. There was a reason why there hadn’t been a quirkless hero ever.

  
  


If only Shouta didn’t encourage him. If only he didn’t turn a blind eye over his friend’s almost impossible dream, then none of that would have happened. His friend wouldn’t have found himself gasping for air inside the ocean of despair that he willingly jumped into and no one even thought of stopping him and instead, pushing him and holding his head to stay underwater. Shouta would never forget anything from that letter.

  
  


_ ‘If only someone told me that it was hopeless for me. If only someone woke me up from my childish dreams. If only someone saw that I had zero potential to become a hero, living wouldn’t have been this painful. I hate my life. I hate myself. I wish I never even dreamed of becoming a hero. Because it hurts so damn much.’ _

  
  


“Hey there buddy. Stop, you’re crumpling the paper.” He remembered hearing Hizashi’s voice then when he looked at his shaking hands, he was holding the paper so strongly that the edges were staring to tear.

  
  


He remembered holding it close to his chest and sobbing there like a kid. He heard his friend’s parents crying alongside him and at that moment, Shouta felt like his heart was being crushed and he could do nothing but cry on Hizashi’s shoulder while the feeling of helplessness sank deeper and deeper into him.

 

.

.

.

 

He felt his head throb. It was painful. And it felt like his entire world was crumbling down. And then his eyes quickly opened and he saw Hizashi shaking him by the shoulders and saying something indecipherable.

  
  


Shouta closed his eyes and took a few seconds to reorient himself. He heard Hizashi calling for Chiyo-san, or Recovery Girl as she liked to be called during work hours, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Hizashi sitting by the infirmary bed he was in.

  
  


“Why did you wake me up? You bastard.” Shouta massaged his temples.

  
  


“You were having a nightmare. Recovery Girl is out somewhere and you can’t expect me to just sit here and do nothing, buddy.” Hizashi just smiled at him and passed him a cup of hot coffee. He noticed that there were tear marks on his face but he didn’t dwell on his dream. He didn’t have an idea why he remembered one of the saddest memories he had.

  
  


Shouta accepted the coffee with a grateful grunt and Hizashi laughed.

  
  


“Why am I here? What the fuck hap–” Shouta had half the mind to push the coffee to Hizashi who caught it before Shouta stood out of the bed and brisk walked to the door.

  
  


“What, Shouta!” He felt Hizashi’s hand on his shoulder. He turned around and scowled at the offensive hand.

  
  


“Where are my students?” Shouta glared at the man. “Where are the villains? And what happened to–” Shouta’s eyes widened and he gripped Hizashi by the arm.

  
  


“Midoriya.” His grip tightened. “Where the hell is Midoriya Izuku?”

  
  


\--

  
  


“Where’s Midoriya Izuku?” Naomasa asked Toshinori, in his normal form, as they met inside the principal’s office which was empty save for Toshinori and himself. His friend seemed to flinch at the mention of the name and Naomasa can’t blame him. Even now, he has nightmares about the kid–  _ no, he’s not a kid.  _ about Midoriya Izuku killing himself in front of them. The scene wasn’t enough to scar him for life because Naomasa has unfortunately seen much more horrible things but knowing something like that is within the midst of young, innocent students makes Naomasa shiver.

  
  


_ What’s his intention in entering U.A? Why did he have to act as a student? What in the world is he thinking? _

  
  


Naomasa knew why he was feeling that way. It’s because of the fear of the unknown. It’s the fear of something that should’ve been impossible but is right there under his nose.

  
  


_ If Midoriya hadn’t told me anything, I would still be thinking that he’s just a weirdly talented student. _

  
  


That thought somehow terrifies the shit out of Naomasa. And it seems like the same applied to his friend.

  
  


“I– I don’t know...” Toshinori seemed hesitant and Naomasa sighed.

  
  


“I heard the gist of it from the students.” Naomasa started. “They all seem fine physically. They were just extremely shaken because of the villain attack and especially because they thought that Midoriya Izuku ‘died’” He did finger quotes. “But they were instantly relieved when they found out that it wasn’t the case.”

  
  


Toshinori nodded. And Naomasa continued.

  
  


“I tried asking those that were at the plaza how the fight went on but... they all said the same thing.” Naomasa saw Toshinori crease his forehead.

  
  


“What did they say? I remembered seeing them look a bit dazed when I entered but I rushed running out after the fight so I wasn’t able to check on them.”

  
  


Naomasa remembered their faces as they struggled describing what they felt and saw. He made sure that he wasn’t making the same face as he started to talk.

  
  


“They said that they saw a giant pair of beautiful golden eyes above the plaza and that they were so captivated by it that they felt like they couldn’t move. They were all unable to see the fight beyond the point where Aizawa-san was about to be attacked by the Noumu creature. They all think that you came after that and that’s what I’m here for. I need to confirm the events during the fight in the plaza and only you and Midoriya know what happened.”

  
  


\--

  
  


“I don’t really know where Izuku is.” Toshinori started. “So I guess you’ll have to hear my version first.”

  
  


So Toshinori started telling Tsukauchi that Izuku defeated the Noumu once when he got there and then the Noumu regenerated and Toshinori just took a fight that Izuku could have just easily ended himself.

  
  


“Wait. So the Noumu was weak?” Tsukauchi asked with wide eyes. Toshinori guesses that he already heard that Noumu was the creature the villains brought to kill him.

  
  


Toshinori just shook his head no. “It wasn’t weak Tsukauchi-kun. Izuku was just that strong.”

  
  


Tsukauchi was silent for a few seconds.

  
  


“Okay.” He took a deep breath and Toshinori completely understood that feeling. “Midoriya isn’t just an immortal with a quirk that can paralyze anyone who makes eye contact with him,” Toshinori was about to ask how his friend knew that but then remembered that with Tsukauchi’s personality, he must’ve done a deep search on Midoriya Izuku’s identity. “He is also so strong that he can take on a creature that was specifically designed to kill you by himself.”

  
  


Toshinori nodded. “Easily.”

  
  


Tsukauchi regarded him for a second. “Easily.”

  
  


“I don’t even know what to think anymore.” Toshinori sat down on the couch and Tsukauchi sat across him.

  
  


“I know that he isn’t a villain and the he also wants to stop All-for-One but I just...” Toshinori struggled to find his words.

  
  


“Something about him doesn’t add up?” Tsukauchi tried helping him and Toshinori shrugged.

  
  


“I don’t know, maybe? It’s just that I’ve met many horrible villains and many of them were crazy. I’ve fought with the craziest of them and he left me to become like this.” Toshinori pointed to his entire being. “And yet none of them is like Midoriya Izuku.”

  
  


Tsukauchi seemed like he understood and nodded.

  
  


“I think I know what you mean. Sometimes I get the feeling that he’s dangerous but not in the same way as the other villains.  __ I also get the feeling that he’s good but then...”

  
  


“He goes and shows us how he kills himself.” Toshinori deadpanned.

  
  


“Exactly.” Toshinori saw his friend look at his phone as it lit up in his hand.

  
  


“Well, I’m sorry but need to go.” Tsukauchi stood up and Toshinori did the same.

  
  


“About the report you need to do...” Toshinori looked at his friend.

  
  


“I know.” Tsukauchi nodded. “No one but you and Aizawa-san saw what really happened and everyone believes that you did all the work so there won’t be any complications.” Toshinori was about to ask about Aizawa but Tsukauchi beat him to it.

  
  


“Nezu-san told me that he’d take care of Aizawa-san so there’s nothing to worry about.”

  
  


Toshinori nodded and walked with Tsukauchi towards the exit of U.A.

  
  


They were talking about when they’d have time to go have a drink when they bumped into a slow walking Aizawa with Yamada following him with arms in the air ready to assist the man any time.

  
  


When Aizawa laid his eyes on them, Toshinori resisted the urge to straighten his back.

  
  


_ His eyes are scary. _

  
  


\--

  
  


“Your eyes are empty.” Nezu bluntly said as he looked at his long time friend.

  
  


Said friend just looked at him with vacant golden eyes. Nezu would have been unsettled if it was his first time seeing him like this but unfortunately this was not.

  
  


“I can’t cry so I just have to settle looking like this.” Izuku shrugged.

  
  


“Don’t feed me lies. You’re tear glands are perfectly functional and you always look like a corpse when you’re not trying so hard not to crack.”

  
  


Izuku showed him a mirthless smile. “How can I not crack? Did you not hear anything I just said?” Nezu just stared at him and Izuku didn’t seem to care and continued. 

  
  


“A monster was created because of me. How else would that Noumu have a regeneration quirk? You think All-for-One passed that along with the shock absorption, strength enhancement and whatever other weak quirks he forced to a person so to make him mutate like that? Regeneration quirks, especially as strong as **that** , as mine, would be very rare and you know that bastard wouldn’t waste it on one Noumu. He would have used it on himself and would have gone after Toshinori by himself and far earlier than six years. He finally found a use to the countless samples he’s had on me Nezu. FUCK!” Izuku pounded his head on the soft arm of the couch.

  
  


Nezu faked a gasp. “You didn’t break anything along with your head. I never thought I’d see the day.”

  
  


Izuku glared at him. “This body isn’t just mine anymore. Are you even listening to anything I say?”

  
  


Nezu shrugged his small shoulders. “If it would get you out of that toxic mindset, then I’d annoy you further and say that no, I am not listening to anything that you say.” Nezu showed a small smile. Izuku tensed for a second.

  
  


“Don’t start about avoiding that self-blaming shit. You know it’s my fault. I got myself willingly caught in that bastard’s hands years ago when I got tired of trying to die and gave him a free pass to experiment on me. It’s all on me Nezu. You don’t have to blind yourself from the facts for me.” 

  
  


Izuku’s voice turned soft towards the end. Nezu resisted the urge to go and pat him on the head since he knew that Izuku wouldn’t know how to react to that so instead, Nezu settled for showering him with warm words. Hell, the world owes Izuku all the warmth and comfort for all the things he’d gone through.

  
  


“I do know the facts. All-for-One is crazy and you’re too busy acting crazy to see that not everything wrong that’s happening is your fault.” Izuku seemed ready to rebut him but Nezu firmly stated.

  
  


“You’re existence is not a mistake my friend. I hope you really see that someday.” Izuku turned silent and Nezu just sighed. He was taking a sip out of his cold tea when his phone vibrated from his pocket.

  
  


Toshinori was calling him but when Nezu answered, Aizawa was the one on the other line.

  
  


“Why wouldn’t answer my calls?” Nezu was about to answer but. “Is Midoriya with you? Where are you?”

  
  


“Who’s that?” Izuku asked from the couch.

  
  


“It’s Aizawa-kun.”

  
  


“Don’t know anyone like that.” Izuku began lying on the couch like a lazy cat. Nezu smirked and put it on speakerphone.

  
  


“I’m sorry, Izuku says he doesn’t know you.”

  
  


Nezu heard a grumbled ‘Bullshit’ from Aizawa.

  
  


“Well, I fucking know who he is. He’s my mother’s boss for God’s sake!”  _ Ah, yes Shouko-kun was one of the best scientists that Izuku had.  _ “She never stopped talking about how I would support her boss when I became a pro hero but then she suddenly has no work since her boss disappears one day and then my mother had to spend the rest of her days wondering if ‘Izuku-sama’ got out safe and all that shit that she won’t tell me.”

  
  


That got Izuku groan out of frustration and slam his head on the sofa cushion.

  
  


“I may not know what he looked like, but my mother never shut up about the most compassionate man towards the quirkless that I practically know the man as well as my own mother!” Nezu couldn’t help let a snort out.

  
  


“And I know what I saw.” It was silent for a few seconds. “I know that only one person could have that quirk.”

  
  


Nezu looked at Izuku’s suffering form. He sighed and decided to ask a question for his friend. “Aren’t you scared of him after what you saw?”

  
  


They heard Aizawa make a frustrated sigh. “I am all kinds of confused right now, but after all of my mother’s romanticizing of her boss, scared is the last thing I’m feeling right now.”

  
  


Another pained groan from Izuku and an amused snort from Nezu became the reply for Aizawa.

  
  


“Where are you two right now. I still need to return this phone to All Might and I can’t stay inside the janitor’s closet just to talk to you.”

  
  


_ Why there?  _ Nezu wanted to ask but he didn’t bother.

  
  


“Okay just go to my office alone and I’ll meet you there and bring you here.”

  
  


“What do you mean–” Nezu cut him off and put the phone down.

  
  


“That went well.” Nezu said with a cheerful voice. Izuku just stared at him from his position on the couch. Nezu tilted his head and Izuku showed him a small shaky smile.

  
  


“Never change my friend.”

  
  


Nezu felt a tremor inside him but he just showed a wide grin.

  
  


“I wish you the opposite my friend. I wish that you keep changing. No matter how painful and confusing the process is...”

  
  


Nezu’s smile softened as he looked at his oldest friend. 

  
  
“We’re all here for you, so keep changing Izuku.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all the nice comments always and my arms are good now!
> 
> I'm sorry if most of my notes are a mess but I think I use all my braincells on writing this that I have none left for the notes and replying to the comments.
> 
> My glasses are shitty and life is shitty but you guys, and fanfics and music make my day a lot better.
> 
> If I'm fond of using social media, it would be filled with my nerdiness but the internet is fortunately safe from me.
> 
> I don't even know what my point is but if your enjoying this even a little bit then I'm glad and no one has to worry about this getting abandoned.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos (omg we're 1000+ how have I not noticed this?!), hits (there are so many wth I'm honored), bookmarks (thank you so much to those people) and to those that comments (I think I remember all your usernames by now from all the times I've read the comments over and over)
> 
>  
> 
> This is getting so long now wth why am I like this?
> 
> I'm gonna rant a bit more here but feel free to skip it.
> 
> I've already had someone comment on my long winded writing and someone said that I write like a girl. Well, what they exactly said was that 'did you make your girlfriend write this?'
> 
> And I was offended because a. I wouldn't let my girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever write that for me because what I wrote (it was a document) was like a really important shit, future decing level, so I wouldn't let my partner do everything for me (I would've asked for help if I had any of course but I won't just dump the whole thing on him/her) and b. Are they referring to a stereotype that long winded and roundabout writing are a trait of girls?
> 
> Wtf. It was a much older woman who told me this and I don't know if I'm just too sensitive to these things or if she doesn't know that she's insulting herself?
> 
> I'm just really easily triggered about these things. But just, can't people have traits that isn't automatically associated with a stereotype?
> 
> I know I may just be overreacting and that most people that tend to do this don't mean any harm but I'm just really bothered by it.
> 
> If anyone got this far then omg you're the best lol
> 
> Edit: I just have to add something cause I'm paranoid like this.
> 
> I'm not changing my long windedness or whatever cause I know that it's how I just express myself as you can see in this long ass note. What I was ranting about was that trait being automatically connected to girls.
> 
> And I'm just, I can be long winded even if I'm a dude wtf? There's nothing wrong with that. Anyone can be long winded or whatever without being put into categories and shit.
> 
> I know girls who are the embodiment of the word concise and there some who are like me. And there's nothing wrong with that. I just hate someone grumbling about how typical it was of them because they're girls. People's traits are because of themselves, not because of their sex wtfffff.
> 
> Anyone can be themselves (long winded in my case) and just be thought of as 'ah, he's just like that' without any stereotypes being involved.
> 
> I know it's not harmful and it's normal in real life but I'm just, ahjzejkiuf
> 
> Yeah. I'm gonna stop here cause I feel another rant coming.
> 
> And if this fic pops up randomly for a few days, that's just me posting edited chapters. When I say edited, there will still be some mistakes lol
> 
> Tl;Dr
> 
> Thank you for reading! See you next chapter!


End file.
